Good Jobs First ‘Claws Back’ Against Corporate Tax Subsidies

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/15/good-jobs-first-claws-back-against-corporate-tax-subsidies-2/

by James Parks, Mar 15, 2008

When big corporations like Wal-Mart come into a town, they often do so fueled by big tax subsidies. In return, they often promise to create hundreds or thousands of good, new jobs–and then renege on that pledge. Good Jobs First, which has a long record of providing tools for community activists to challenge corporate giveaways, this week launched a new blog to bolster its efforts.



Clawback takes its name from the steps governments take to recoup subsidies from companies that don’t deliver on job promises. But even more, the staff of Good Jobs First says in a press release:

We also like to think of ourselves as part of a movement that is “clawing back” in a broader sense–making economic development once again serve the common good rather than narrow private interests.

Clawback’s current posts include one by Bettina Damiani that reveals how New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration is handing over taxpayer subsidies to a long list of super-rich business enterprieses such as Major League Baseball, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer and the American Stock Exchange. Damiani also points out that the city is paying more than $1 billion in city, state and federal subsidies just to build two stadiums for the New York Yankees and New York Mets, two of baseball’s richest franchises.

Or you can read how small businesses in Austin, Texas, have moved a ballot referendum that would bar the city from giving tax breaks to retailers. The group consists of about 450 locally owned businesses and wants the ban on tax breaks for new projects with retail components. The group also wants the city to stop making payments to existing projects, like the $16.5 million in property and sales tax rebate awarded to a luxury shopping center. .

Austin would not be the first city with a ban on retail subsidies. Last summer, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a law prohibiting cities in the Phoenix area from providing retail subsidies. This law came after two metro-area projects were awarded a whopping $340 million in sales tax rebates.

Click here to check out the Clawback site: http://clawback.org/