WE PAID FOR THEM ALREADY!
The Bensons Have Gotten Hundreds of MILLIONS of our tax dollars
We pay the taxes! We won’t be locked out!
Tickets for Saints/Steelers game $400-$2,000
The Benson family, the richest in all of Louisiana (oil companies take their profits out of state) has received hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies out of public funds paid for by working class New Orleanians. In 2018 alone, $52 million went to the Superdome from hotel taxes instead of going to the budget of the city.
The Bensons collected $94 million from 2009 to 2012. The state used $85 million in tax money to upgrade the Superdome which the Bensons used rent and tax free. The state guaranteed the Bensons $12.5 million yearly in revenue as a result. Champions Square, owned by the city, brought the Bensons more millions, even though they are currently behind on funds to the city for the property.
Saints’ games alone bring in $63 million in revenue and another $14 million for parking. Incredibly the state even gave them $2.8 million in a tax refund from taxes the state collects from out of town players’ salaries.
We’re happy for the few folks whose lay-away was paid off by Gayle Benson at the Walmart on Tchoupitoulas. Tons of media were there to record this act of holiday “generosity.” But its purpose was anything but wonderful. This was just a stunt to make Benson look good while she rips off the people of New Orleans.