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Corporate Welfare Reform for New York

by: ElanaDMIBlog

Wed May 09, 2007 at 09:50:44 AM EDT


(Great stuff from the good folks at the Drum Major Institute. - promoted by lipris)

There's a new report about to be released that everyone tired of the public getting fleeced by corporate welfare cheats like Wal-mart needs to check out. A wonderful opinion piece in The Albany Times Union gives a taste of what this important report will reveal.

I've written about the inadequate accountability and transparency for the hundreds of millions in tax breaks and other subsidies New York hands out to corporations every year. The subsidies are supposed to be given to help expand the local economy and create jobs but it has become clear that the public isn't getting much of a bang for its buck.

Adrianne Shropshire has written for the DMIBlog about the need to reform Industrial Development Agencies - the local agencies that issue business incentive tax breaks including how a recent audit showed that 2/3rds of the subsidies the agencies handed out didn't create the number of jobs they claimed it would. In fact she points out that an earlier study her organization, New York Jobs With Justice  issued showed that "63% of IDAs give subsidies to companies that cut jobs once they receive tax breaks"! 


More on the flip...

ElanaDMIBlog :: Corporate Welfare Reform for New York
New York Jobs With Justice is now about to release a report documenting public travesties like the
five upstate IDAs granted Wal-Mart more than $12 million in tax breaks between 2002 and 2005, draining school taxes from these areas in exchange for low-wage retail jobs.

As DMI Fellow Adrianne Shropshire and James Parrot of the Fiscal Policy Institute wrote in that must-read op-ed:

Starting now, IDAs must be held accountable for the tax breaks they dispense. We need safeguards in place to assure that these investments create quality jobs and help revitalize those parts of the state whose economies are lagging behind....IDA reform is the place where New York's pressing job needs and accountability to taxpayers come together

To see what another state did to combat these problems check out the video or podcast of our Marketplace of Ideas event from the Fall "Increasing accountability for economic development subsidies with Senator John Hottinger".

* * *
UPDATE: read more in today's Newsday "Report blasts value of IDAs: Says Long Island taxing districts miss out on millions because of tax breaks given by development agencies"

The reporter Patrick Arden at Metro's article says "Report: City gave breaks to firms that cut jobs"
The folks upstate at Press & Sun-Bulletin of Greater Binghamton reported Critics say state economic development programs a failure

Poll
What is your opinion of Industrial Development Agencies
I like Jobs With Justice's reform proposals
I think the IDA's are jim-dandy already
Scrap all development subsidies
Are you kidding?! Wal-mart needs our $ and help!

Results

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , (All Tags)
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COMIDA (4.00 / 1)
RochesterTurning has been chronicling the exploits of our local IDA: COMIDA, the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency.

Indeed, it's a huge waste of money, if not corrupt. For one thing, local citizens have no say where the money goes. We can't vote, and the COMIDA representatives don't even show up for public hearings.

I write at Rochester Turning


an older write up (4.00 / 1)
I saw an older write-up analysizing COMIDA online somewhere last night. Its by the Fiscal Policy Institute.
http://64.233.167.10...

Glad to see that you guys are covering this so well! Its awesome.

www.dmiblog.com


[ Parent ]
Thanks for excellent post (4.00 / 1)
This is an area in which reform is long overdue.  It can be a hard one to keep a clear public focus on, but, it is one of the root causes of NYers' complaints about high taxes: those most able to pay have often cut a deal to not have to pay.

If this adminstration is serious about reform, IDAs will become accountable for economic development and job-creation results.


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