Wal-Mart Increases Investment...in Politicians

Cross-posted from Reclaim Democracy!


Corporation jacks up political contributions in states where it wants to reduce its tax bill

By Pallavi Gogoi
First published by Business Week, October 26, 2007

Wal-Mart Stores has been sharply increasing political contributions in states where it is trying to cut its corporate tax bill. That's according to data just released from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group based in Helena, Mont.

Over the past four election cycles, the retailing giant has ratcheted up contributions in nine states that are key to its operations: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Its political contributions in those states rose from $139,822 in the 2000 election cycle to $879,441 in the 2006 election cycle, according to the institute. Wal-Mart's efforts to reduce its corporate taxes in those states have come to light as a result of a lawsuit that the attorney general of North Carolina filed against the company to challenge its tax-cutting strategies.

"As Wal-Mart looks for ways to improve its bottom line, the public should be aware that their tax bill may increase as Wal-Mart's goes down," says Edwin Bender, executive director for the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Wal-Mart did not comment for this story.

Across the past four election cycles, Wal-Mart made a total of almost $2.5 million in state political contributions in the nine key states. That accounts for 65% of the company's campaign contributions at the state level, which totaled $3.8 million in 43 states.

As BusinessWeek first noted last year, the giant retailer has been steadily boosting contributions to state and local politicians, just as such politicians have been taking on more important roles in deciding key issues concerning the company's operations. In recent years, state and local officials have been weighing in on everything from the local minimum wage and required health-care benefits to zoning for big-box retailers. Meanwhile Wal-Mart, Inc. has made contributions to everyone from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich Jr. and Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones Jr.

more:

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/2007/state_political_contributions.php

It is bad for America in so many ways. :(

Of course, the business press will never admit it.

They keep coming up with excuses for Walmart's disappointing earnings without ever using the "B" word.

Boycotts scare them.

Keep it up!