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| Chicago vs. StubHub |
(IRN)-The city of Chicago says it's losing money every time sports fans buy game tickets through StubHub, and it wants that money back.
StubHub argued before the state Supreme Court that it's following the state's "Ticket Act" by warning customers the city may come after them to collect amusement taxes, which is calculated based on a percentage of a total sale. But StubHub doesn't collect the tax itself.
StubHub attorney Tim Bishop says the company provides cities across the country with user information so they can pursue tax collection, but Chicago hasn't asked for it. "The general assembly provided the city in the Ticket Act with the tool it needs to collect the revenue," says Bishop. "Rather than litigating this case for years, it could have been collecting the tax."
The city's attorney, Julian Henriques, told the court StubHub is misinterpreting the Ticket Act. "We still have the right to insist on collection, even though the absence of collection means there's no violation of the criminal law of ticket scalping. That's all that it means," says Henriques. "So all of the discussion that StubHub has presented in reliance on the Ticket Act is completely beside the point."
Henriques says it's impossible to pore through hundreds of thousands of documents to determine what's owed. He also says the Ticket Act only concerns ticket scalping, not online re-sales.
The Supreme Court will make its decision at some future time.
(Source: Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 05 18 11 by Newsroom |
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