Tax Law May Curb Corporate Cash At Sporting Events

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The crackdown on tax loopholes could clamp down on corporate schmoozing.

The new federal tax law ends a benefit prized by business for impressing customers or courting new ones. And the impact could be felt in the pricey boxes at sports stadiums, or even at Double-A baseball games. In Washington, lobbyists who helped craft the sweeping Republican tax legislation could now be pinched by it.

U.S. companies spend hundreds of millions annually on entertaining customers and clients at sporting events, tournaments and arts venues, an expense that until this year they could partially deduct from their tax bill. But a provision in the tax bill passed last year eliminated the deduction in an effort to curb the overall price tag of the legislation and streamline the tax code.