Latest news with #Feinstein
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Bill Advances as Team Owner and College Tax Breaks in Peril
The omnibus 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' passed by the House of Representatives Thursday morning takes aim at team owners' coveted ability to write off most of the purchase price of a sports team, with a clause that would remove billions of dollars from being deducted on taxes. 'The bill itself, vis-a-vis sports teams ownership, isn't really a great thing,' Irwin Kishner, a partner at the law firm of Herrick, Feinstein, said on a phone call. 'You could argue the valuations of sports teams would be less than they were prior to that tax treatment.' More from Baseball America the Latest to Be Target of 'Bork Bill' Congress May Have to Settle NCAA Athlete Eligibility Issue Coffey Talk: Donn Davis on PFL's Rise and Sports 'Ego Money' The bill, now numbered H.R. 1, covers a multitude of spending priorities including border security, defense and taxation, among others. The legislation also takes a hatchet to amortization, which is the depreciation of non-tangible assets often termed goodwill. Typically, 90% or more of a team's purchase price is goodwill, which excludes physical assets a team might possess, such as its stadium and weight room equipment. 'Team owners were allowed to deduct 100% of the purchase price over 15 years, and now they're only allowed to deduct 50% over 15 years, if it comes to law,' Robert Raiola, director of the sports and entertainment group at PKF O'Connor Davies accounting firm, said on a phone call. Amortization is an accounting principle meant to assess a decline in value over time, like its cousin depreciation, which is meant to account for physical assets wearing out, such as machinery. In sports, values don't typically decline. The 1973 New York Yankees sale to George Steinbrenner is believed to be the last time a franchise from the big four U.S. leagues traded hands at a loss. The amortization of team values is an under-the-radar tax benefit that is a key part of the calculus used in the decision to buy a U.S. sports franchise—and it plays a role in the skyrocketing prices paid for franchises in recent years. For example, under existing law, a team owner paying $1.6 billion for a franchise where $1.5 billion is intangible goodwill could deduct that $1.5 billion over 15 years. That $100 million annual deduction of taxable income probably saves the average team owner $40 million in actual taxes, assuming a 40% blended federal and state tax rate. Those deductions do raise the taxable income if and when the team is sold—all $1.5 billion would be a gain to be taxed—but not paying taxes today is preferable to paying them in the distant future. The proposed law, which now moves to the Senate, means team owners would still get a $20 million annual tax savings under the example above. As drafted, it would cover all professional sports teams, and specifies football, hockey, soccer, baseball and basketball as examples. The amortization reduction applies only to new purchases after the bill becomes law, so any revenue bump to the federal government would be muted by the fact current team owners will be exempt under the proposal. 'The general public doesn't really feel sorry for these people either way, but for the owners themselves, it has a huge impact,' Kevin Thorne, managing partner of tax-focused Thorne Law Group, said on a phone call. 'I think it's going to be changed by the time it goes fully through [the Senate and reconciliation process]. A lot of people are going to be getting phone calls on The Hill.' Two years ago Congress eliminated the ability of team owners to immediately depreciate the value of tangible assets of their franchises. Tax benefits 'are a big part of the calculus' of buying a team, Kishner said. 'But it's still a regulated asset in that supply is less than demand and people have historically done very well owning these franchises.' H.R. 1 also seeks to tax college athletic department licensing revenue. Typically, all nonprofits must pay income tax on revenue from activities not central to their tax-exempt status to avoid giving charities a competitive advantage over for-profit businesses. Yet under current law, income from the sale or licensing by a college of its name and logo is exempt from unrelated business income taxation. This money can be significant: Ohio State University's athletic department for example, made $34.1 million in licensing and advertising revenue in the latest reported year, according to the Sportico College Sports Finances Database. Athletic department logos of seemingly every college in the U.S. are widely licensed for apparel and other goods. That money would now be subject to the 21% corporate tax rate—at the same time the NCAA is proposing expanded scholarship limits and direct payments to athletes. Another clause in the budget as passed would allow health savings account money to be used to pay for gym membership, capped at $500 a year per person and $1,000 per family. Publicly traded gym operators Planet Fitness (PLNT) and Life Time Group Holdings (LTH) were up modestly in trading today, outpacing the broader market. H.R. 1 passed the full House by a vote of 215-214 with one abstention, and it will likely see changes in the Senate, despite the Republicans' six-seat advantage. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has set a July 4 target date to pass the legislation. The bill, weighing in at more than 1,100 pages, will now be referred to the Senate finance and budget committees, which may propose amendments that will need to be reconciled with the House version. Both bodies will need to approve by majority vote a final version before it can be sent to President Trump to be signed into law. With assistance from Michael McCann Best of Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia and Collectibles in History The 100 Most Valuable Sports Teams in the World NFL Private Equity Ownership Rules: PE Can Now Own Stakes in Teams
San Francisco Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump canceled his Pride concert, but Michael Feinstein found his spotlight in San Francisco
The Great American Songbook has a unique way of bridging gaps between musicians and listeners from all different backgrounds. Singer, pianist and standards ambassador Michael Feinstein and acclaimed classical soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet serve as a perfect example. As a duo, they've found common ground in this popular repertoire by the likes of Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and especially the Gershwin brothers. An enthusiastic audience at Davies Symphony Hall on Tuesday, May 20, discovered just how well these two superstars in their respective genres can mesh. Feinstein and Thibaudet co-headlined a special one-night-only concert with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of longtime Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, and the performance was by turns entertaining, educational and moving. Feinstein has recently made headlines for decidedly non-celebratory reasons. His Kennedy Center engagement with the National Symphony Orchestra, 'A Peacock Among Pigeons: Celebrating 50 Years of Pride,' scheduled for this week, was canceled by the Trump administration. So Tuesday's program was triumphant in contrast, commencing with an energetic orchestral overture before Feinstein and Thibaudet walked onto the stage flashing winning smiles and sporting matching sparkly tuxedo jackets with satin shawl collars. Seated at interlocking Steinway grand pianos, the pair faced one another as they started into a rendition of Berlin's 'I Love a Piano,' featuring Feinstein's impassioned singing. Given Feinstein's impeccable credentials, including as host of the onetime public radio series 'Song Travels,' it seemed safe to assume that he'd do all of the talking. But both musicians spoke with welcoming rapport for a show that felt like a natural extension of their 'Gershwin Rhapsody' album, released last year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of 'Rhapsody in Blue.' As founder of the Great American Songbook Foundation, Feinstein shared stories of his musical acquaintances going back decades, from conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein to lyricist Irving Caesar, whose popular song 'Tea for Two' concluded the first set of the evening. Feinstein also spoke about his six years as personal assistant to lyricist Ira Gershwin, older brother and primary songwriting partner of composer George. Thibaudet reflected on his upbringing as a French conservatory student. Sharing an anecdote about George Gershwin and Maurice Ravel, the pianist served as something of an audience surrogate — someone with an appreciation of American Songbook standards if not Feinstein's comprehensive knowledge. In a way, it was not unlike an evening at Feinstein's San Francisco nightclub at Hotel Nikko. But the orchestra, with Lockhart at the helm, really made it an event. Thibaudet performed the third movement from Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F with proper symphonic accompaniment. (He mentioned that he first played the piece at age 14.) And the second-half 'Gershwin Fantasy' was a tour de force, stuffed with favorites like 'Someone to Watch Over Me,' 'I Got Rhythm' and 'Embraceable You' and bookended by the original two-piano arrangement of 'Rhapsody.' An encore of the Gershwins' 'Love Is Here to Stay' ended the program on a poignant note. It was George's last composition, and Ira completed the lyrics posthumously, Feinstein pointed out. He posited that the song is about the brothers' relationship. But when he crooned the opening lines — 'It's very clear / Our love is here to stay / Not for a year / But ever and a day' — it was hard not to think about the power of timeless standards too.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Organization of American States under pressure from the US to help quell gang violence in Haiti
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Organization of American States came under pressure Thursday to help quash gang violence in Haiti as a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police in the troubled Caribbean country struggles with a lack of funds and personnel. A U.S. Department of State official attending an OAS meeting on Haiti's security crisis said that the Washington-based group has a critical role to play in the nation. 'Much more can and should be done,' said Barbara Feinstein, deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Feinstein echoed comments made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Haiti. 'Why do we have an OAS, if the OAS can't put together a mission to handle the most critical region in our hemisphere?' Rubio said Wednesday as he proposed building a mission with regional partners. 'We're grateful to the Kenyans, but this is a regional problem, and it should have a regional solution.' OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro on Thursday acknowledged that the Kenya-led mission was struggling and said that the organization was working on new initiatives. 'There is a need for a new structure for the mission,' he said. Last year, the U.S. and Haiti called for it to be replaced with a U.N. peacekeeping mission, but the U.N. Security Council hasn't supported such a change. 'A wave of indignation' Thursday's OAS meeting was held just hours after gangs launched another attack in Haiti's central Artibonite region. Gunmen stormed a church in Préval, killing 22 people, including an 86-year-old pastor who was beheaded, according to Bertide Horace, spokesperson for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite. 'This tragedy has sparked a wave of indignation throughout the country,' she told The Associated Press, adding that the victims called for help, but that neither police nor officers with the Kenya-led mission responded. Kenya's OAS representative, Jayne Toroitich, said that while the mission has made considerable progress in Haiti despite ongoing challenges, Haitian police need more training and that the mission more money and personnel. Only 1,000 out of the 2,500 personnel envisioned by the U.N. Security are currently in Haiti. In addition, the mission is operating at only 30% of its capability in terms of equipment, the representative said. The OAS meeting was held a day after Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer who became one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders, pleaded with people from the Delmas 30 neighborhood in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to let armed men through, so that they could overthrow Haiti's prime minister and its transitional presidential council. 'I need the road to get to the prime minister's office,' he said in a video posted Wednesday on social media. Chérizier, best known as 'Barbecue,' is among the leader of a powerful gang coalition called Viv Ansanm, which last year forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign as it attacked dozens of critical state infrastructure sites and forced Haiti's main international airport to close for nearly three months. A plea for more help Gangs that control at least 85% of Port-au-Prince also have seized a significant amount of territory in Haiti's central region in recent months. 'Every day, these gangs are gaining more territory,' said Patrick Pélissier, Haiti's minister of justice and public security. More than 5,600 people were killed across Haiti last year, and more than 1,600 others from January to end of March, according to the U.N. Gang violence also has left more than 1 million people homeless in recent years. Pélissier noted that Haiti's National Police is severely understaffed — there is one officer for every 12,000 residents. He said that intelligence and counterintelligence also is greatly lacking. Jean-Michel Moïse, Haiti's defense minister, echoed those concerns. The military has about 1,000 members with limited training, he said. 'They are unable, still now, to effectively (fight) the gangs, which are very strong, very well armed, very well financed,' Moïse said. 'Haiti is on the brink of being fully controlled by criminal gangs, and we cannot allow that to happen.' He called on the OAS and the international community to help train military officers and new recruits. 'The army is very small, very embryonic,' he said, adding that the current urban warfare in Haiti is overwhelming them. 'They were not prepared for this kind of challenge.' Moïse said the government didn't expect gangs to become so powerful after President Jovenel Moïse was killed in July 2021 at his private residence. He and other Haitian officials noted that the ongoing gang violence is fueled by the smuggling of weapons, many of which come from the U.S. Moïse and Pélissier thanked the OAS and the international community for their support so far, but stressed that much more is needed. 'Haiti … needs this solidarity to be translated into concrete actions,' Pélissier said. 'The problem that we have in front of us today is huge.' ___ Evens Sanon contributed to this report from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Bill Advances as Team Owner and College Tax Breaks in Peril
The omnibus 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' passed by the House of Representatives Thursday morning takes aim at team owners' coveted ability to write off most of the purchase price of a sports team, with a clause that would remove billions of dollars from being deducted on taxes. 'The bill itself, vis-a-vis sports teams ownership, isn't really a great thing,' Irwin Kishner, a partner at the law firm of Herrick, Feinstein, said on a phone call. 'You could argue the valuations of sports teams would be less than they were prior to that tax treatment.' More from Baseball America the Latest to Be Target of 'Bork Bill' Congress May Have to Settle NCAA Athlete Eligibility Issue Coffey Talk: Donn Davis on PFL's Rise and Sports 'Ego Money' The bill, now numbered H.R. 1, covers a multitude of spending priorities including border security, defense and taxation, among others. The legislation also takes a hatchet to amortization, which is the depreciation of non-tangible assets often termed goodwill. Typically, 90% or more of a team's purchase price is goodwill, which excludes physical assets a team might possess, such as its stadium and weight room equipment. 'Team owners were allowed to deduct 100% of the purchase price over 15 years, and now they're only allowed to deduct 50% over 15 years, if it comes to law,' Robert Raiola, director of the sports and entertainment group at PKF O'Connor Davies accounting firm, said on a phone call. Amortization is an accounting principle meant to assess a decline in value over time, like its cousin depreciation, which is meant to account for physical assets wearing out, such as machinery. In sports, values don't typically decline. The 1973 New York Yankees sale to George Steinbrenner is believed to be the last time a franchise from the big four U.S. leagues traded hands at a loss. The amortization of team values is an under-the-radar tax benefit that is a key part of the calculus used in the decision to buy a U.S. sports franchise—and it plays a role in the skyrocketing prices paid for franchises in recent years. For example, under existing law, a team owner paying $1.6 billion for a franchise where $1.5 billion is intangible goodwill could deduct that $1.5 billion over 15 years. That $100 million annual deduction of taxable income probably saves the average team owner $40 million in actual taxes, assuming a 40% blended federal and state tax rate. Those deductions do raise the taxable income if and when the team is sold—all $1.5 billion would be a gain to be taxed—but not paying taxes today is preferable to paying them in the distant future. The proposed law, which now moves to the Senate, means team owners would still get a $20 million annual tax savings under the example above. As drafted, it would cover all professional sports teams, and specifies football, hockey, soccer, baseball and basketball as examples. The amortization reduction applies only to new purchases after the bill becomes law, so any revenue bump to the federal government would be muted by the fact current team owners will be exempt under the proposal. 'The general public doesn't really feel sorry for these people either way, but for the owners themselves, it has a huge impact,' Kevin Thorne, managing partner of tax-focused Thorne Law Group, said on a phone call. 'I think it's going to be changed by the time it goes fully through [the Senate and reconciliation process]. A lot of people are going to be getting phone calls on The Hill.' Two years ago Congress eliminated the ability of team owners to immediately depreciate the value of tangible assets of their franchises. Tax benefits 'are a big part of the calculus' of buying a team, Kishner said. 'But it's still a regulated asset in that supply is less than demand and people have historically done very well owning these franchises.' H.R. 1 also seeks to tax college athletic department licensing revenue. Typically, all nonprofits must pay income tax on revenue from activities not central to their tax-exempt status to avoid giving charities a competitive advantage over for-profit businesses. Yet under current law, income from the sale or licensing by a college of its name and logo is exempt from unrelated business income taxation. This money can be significant: Ohio State University's athletic department for example, made $34.1 million in licensing and advertising revenue in the latest reported year, according to the Sportico College Sports Finances Database. Athletic department logos of seemingly every college in the U.S. are widely licensed for apparel and other goods. That money would now be subject to the 21% corporate tax rate—at the same time the NCAA is proposing expanded scholarship limits and direct payments to athletes. Another clause in the budget as passed would allow health savings account money to be used to pay for gym membership, capped at $500 a year per person and $1,000 per family. Publicly traded gym operators Planet Fitness (PLNT) and Life Time Group Holdings (LTH) were up modestly in trading today, outpacing the broader market. H.R. 1 passed the full House by a vote of 215-214 with one abstention, and it will likely see changes in the Senate, despite the Republicans' six-seat advantage. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has set a July 4 target date to pass the legislation. The bill, weighing in at more than 1,100 pages, will now be referred to the Senate finance and budget committees, which may propose amendments that will need to be reconciled with the House version. Both bodies will need to approve by majority vote a final version before it can be sent to President Trump to be signed into law. With assistance from Michael McCann Best of Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia and Collectibles in History The 100 Most Valuable Sports Teams in the World NFL Private Equity Ownership Rules: PE Can Now Own Stakes in Teams Sign in to access your portfolio
Winnipeg Free Press
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Organization of American States under pressure from the US to help quell gang violence in Haiti
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Organization of American States came under pressure Thursday to help quash gang violence in Haiti as a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police in the troubled Caribbean country struggles with a lack of funds and personnel. A U.S. Department of State official attending an OAS meeting on Haiti's security crisis said that the Washington-based group has a critical role to play in the nation. 'Much more can and should be done,' said Barbara Feinstein, deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Feinstein echoed comments made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Haiti. 'Why do we have an OAS, if the OAS can't put together a mission to handle the most critical region in our hemisphere?' Rubio said Wednesday as he proposed building a mission with regional partners. 'We're grateful to the Kenyans, but this is a regional problem, and it should have a regional solution.' OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro on Thursday acknowledged that the Kenya-led mission was struggling and said that the organization was working on new initiatives. 'There is a need for a new structure for the mission,' he said. Last year, the U.S. and Haiti called for it to be replaced with a U.N. peacekeeping mission, but the U.N. Security Council hasn't supported such a change. 'A wave of indignation' Thursday's OAS meeting was held just hours after gangs launched another attack in Haiti's central Artibonite region. Gunmen stormed a church in Préval, killing 22 people, including an 86-year-old pastor who was beheaded, according to Bertide Horace, spokesperson for the Commission for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Awareness to Save the Artibonite. 'This tragedy has sparked a wave of indignation throughout the country,' she told The Associated Press, adding that the victims called for help, but that neither police nor officers with the Kenya-led mission responded. Kenya's OAS representative, Jayne Toroitich, said that while the mission has made considerable progress in Haiti despite ongoing challenges, Haitian police need more training and that the mission more money and personnel. Only 1,000 out of the 2,500 personnel envisioned by the U.N. Security are currently in Haiti. In addition, the mission is operating at only 30% of its capability in terms of equipment, the representative said. The OAS meeting was held a day after Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer who became one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders, pleaded with people from the Delmas 30 neighborhood in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to let armed men through, so that they could overthrow Haiti's prime minister and its transitional presidential council. 'I need the road to get to the prime minister's office,' he said in a video posted Wednesday on social media. Chérizier, best known as 'Barbecue,' is among the leader of a powerful gang coalition called Viv Ansanm, which last year forced former Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign as it attacked dozens of critical state infrastructure sites and forced Haiti's main international airport to close for nearly three months. A plea for more help Gangs that control at least 85% of Port-au-Prince also have seized a significant amount of territory in Haiti's central region in recent months. 'Every day, these gangs are gaining more territory,' said Patrick Pélissier, Haiti's minister of justice and public security. More than 5,600 people were killed across Haiti last year, and more than 1,600 others from January to end of March, according to the U.N. Gang violence also has left more than 1 million people homeless in recent years. Pélissier noted that Haiti's National Police is severely understaffed — there is one officer for every 12,000 residents. He said that intelligence and counterintelligence also is greatly lacking. Jean-Michel Moïse, Haiti's defense minister, echoed those concerns. The military has about 1,000 members with limited training, he said. 'They are unable, still now, to effectively (fight) the gangs, which are very strong, very well armed, very well financed,' Moïse said. 'Haiti is on the brink of being fully controlled by criminal gangs, and we cannot allow that to happen.' He called on the OAS and the international community to help train military officers and new recruits. 'The army is very small, very embryonic,' he said, adding that the current urban warfare in Haiti is overwhelming them. 'They were not prepared for this kind of challenge.' Moïse said the government didn't expect gangs to become so powerful after President Jovenel Moïse was killed in July 2021 at his private residence. He and other Haitian officials noted that the ongoing gang violence is fueled by the smuggling of weapons, many of which come from the U.S. Moïse and Pélissier thanked the OAS and the international community for their support so far, but stressed that much more is needed. 'Haiti … needs this solidarity to be translated into concrete actions,' Pélissier said. 'The problem that we have in front of us today is huge.' ___ Evens Sanon contributed to this report from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
