Companies spend hundreds of millions annually on "entertaining customers and clients at sporting events," an expense that until this year they could partially deduct from their tax bill, but a provision in the new tax law eliminates the long-standing 50% deduction in an effort to "curb the overall price tag of the legislation and streamline the tax code," according to Marcy Gordon of the AP. The new tax law "ends a benefit prized by business for impressing customers or courting new ones." The impact could be "felt in the pricey boxes at sports stadiums, or even at Double-A baseball games in small towns with loyal company backers." The provision is one of the many "under-the-radar consequences slowly emerging from the new tax legislation, the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in three decades." Congress' bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that ending the deduction will "save the government" about $2B a year and $23B through '27 in "formerly lost revenue." Of course, many companies will "continue to spend without the tax incentive, for the benefits they get from entertaining such as the payoff in future revenue." But the tax change still could have a "financial impact on sports teams and cultural institutions." USTA Managing Dir of Communications Chris Widmaier said that the governing body "hasn't seen an impact yet on ticket sales, but noted it's still fairly early in the sales season" (AP, 3/18).
