Ark won’t float on tax dollars

Ark won’t float on tax dollars

While the Vindicator can’t be expected to fact check editorials that appear in other newspapers and later show up in The Vindicator, it can lead to a major problem.

The Jan. 4 guest editorial, “Tea party should be outraged,” (which originally ran Dec. 29 in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) was totally incorrect in stating that Kentucky taxpayers would be subsidizing the operation of the Ark Encounter, a themed attraction featuring a full-size Noah’s Ark in northern Kentucky. In actuality, the only people to pay for the Ark’s operation will be the Ark Encounter visitors, who will pay sales tax as they purchase tickets and food at the attraction. If the Ark’s application is approved, Kentucky will rebate a portion of the sales tax to the for-profit Ark Encounter LLC based on attendance performance.

In reality, the state’s coffers will benefit tremendously when the Ark opens. The part of the sales tax that the state will keep, plus payroll and property taxes collected from the 14,000 employees estimated to eventually work at the Ark Encounter and other new businesses generated in the region, will be significant.

Sales tax collected by many local businesses that will be created by the Ark Encounter’s ripple effect will also add revenue to the state treasury (e.g., from new hotels, gas stations, restaurants, etc.). A feasibility study by renowned researcher Britt Beemer estimates that 1.6 million people would visit the Ark the first year.

Writing that “taxpayers will be on the hook” for the Ark is simply untrue.

Mark Looy, Petersburg, Kentucky

The writer is chief communications officer for Answers in Genesis/The Creation Museum (partners in the Ark Encounter LLC).