Are city sponsorships just bribery?
I have registered my business with the city and paid all published fees and received a business license to do business within my city.
I am allowed to be at the city park and sell my ice cream anytime other than a city "sponsored" event. I was told to become a "sponsor" I would need to pay additional monies, the minimum is $500. The more I pay for a sponsorship , the more privilege I get , such as being the only vendor allowed to sell ice cream of any kind and having the city enforce the removal of other legally registered ice cream businesses within the city who have NOT paid a "sponsorship" or have not paid as much. While at a recent event I was asked to leave because another ice cream vendor selling hard packed ice cream complained I was not a city "sponsor". The city forced me to leave , despite the fact that more of the people were buying my product than the other vendor. By paying the city a "sponsorship" he got exclusivity and city protection, isn't that racketeering?
Answers:
The city sponsored events are money making events for the city. These events are there to reduce your taxes. When someone holds an event, it is very typical to have all vendors pay a fee to be part of the event -- usually a win/win situation because the vendor gets to earn money and get publicity, and the event holder gets the funds to apply against expenses for holding the event.
If they have one person pay for being a sponsor, and one that just sells stuff without sponsorship, then the one who pays is really getting nothing from being a sponsor.
It is not racketeering -- they are giving you a license at a low rate and not increasing the sales tax to pay for things. If they couldn't charge vendors at events, they would lose money (or make less) and then would raise taxes for everyone.
It sure sounds like racketeering to me. It would likely be charged that way if a citizen was doing it.
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