KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri Supreme Court has found that the Kansas City Chiefs don’t owe $1 million in back taxes on the decade-old Arrowhead Stadium renovation after all.
The Kansas City Star reports that the court found Tuesday that the state’s Administrative Hearing Commission erred last year when it ruled that the team should have paid sales taxes on a number of items bought during the $375 million upgrade.
Taxpayers paid $275 million of the total for things like expanded concourses and replacing basic stadium infrastructure. The Chiefs kicked in the rest.
The case stems from a 2014 audit in which the Missouri Department of Revenue challenged sales tax exemptions on $23 million in purchases.
The state auditor found that items such as leotards for cheerleaders and weight-lifting equipment didn’t fall under the public purpose of fixing the stadium.
But the Chiefs contended that nearly all of the purchases the team funded were exempt from sales taxes because that money went into a common construction fund controlled by the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority.
