$29.3 Million F1 Fraud, Texas Style

"State Comptroller Susan Combs has approved payment of $29.3 million from the state Major Events Trust Fund to organizers of November's Formula One race" 

[...]

"Under trust fund rules, the amount granted to the event organizers should be equal to the amount of additional tax revenues generated by the major event." (Austin Statesman, Dec 11, 2012)

There were 117,000 tickets sold for the Austin Circuit of the Americas (COTA) race weekend. You couldn't buy single day event tickets.

The sales tax in Texas is 6%. To generate $29.3 million in taxes would require $488,333,333.33 in spending. Divided by 117,000, that is $4173.79 in spending generated per ticket. That is simply impossible. It is fraud. Texas voters, and frankly, the police, should act accordingly.

The average rate for hotel rooms in Austin that weekend: $393.69. In San Antonio: $184.20.

So lets pretend every single ticket was sold to someone not residing in Texas. That they all decided to spend 3 nights in Austin and they all had their own room: $1181.07 average hotel spend. That still leaves $2992.72 to spend on ground transportation, food and tickets. Likely? Impossible. 

-When Governments Lie: The City of Austin and the State of Texas Exaggerate F1 Impact