Tax The Poor

There’s an old rule in the Bronx: Don’t look past today because there may be no tomorrow.

Javier cast that aside as he glanced across 161st Street from River Avenue.

“I worry about the new Stadium,” he said as dust rose from the construction site. “The big guy (George Steinbrenner) has been good to us with cheap tickets in the Bleachers and the Tier, but I don’t know if he'll be able to do that when this place opens.

“Taxes keep going up,” he continued. “Major League Baseball is no different than anyone else in this country. They come into the Bronx and pick our pockets so guys like that Wal-Mart thug in Kansas City (Royals’ owner David Glass) and that newspaper baron in Pittsburgh (Pirates’ CEO Kevin McClatchy) can fill theirs.

“I saw the fans in Pittsburgh are finally forcing him out,” Javier went on. “Good, that city deserves better.”

The Bronx deserves better, too. But no one in Major League Baseball’s Park Avenue offices seems to see a problem with dropping a huge tax bill on the poorest borough in New York City and one of the poorest urban areas in the country.

“They’re carrying on an American tradition,” Javier laughed. “Tax the poor to feed the rich. Our only chance is The Boss. He knows what this baseball team means to us and he’s never let us down. I just hope he can keep it up.”

Otherwise, there may be no baseball tomorrows for plenty of people in the Bronx.