Corporate Subsidy Watch
Corporate Subsidy Watch Overview
Good Jobs First is a leading monitor and critic of company-specific subsidy deals. We track which companies go most often to the public trough for assistance, and we critique egregious giveaways. In this section of the website, we have profile of some of the leading over-users and abusers of economic development subsidies, including household names such as Boeing and Dell. We summarize their major deals and provide resources for additional information.
This section also contains profiles of some industries with heavy subsidy use; material relating to site location consultants, who prod public officials to offer large subsidy packages; and an overview of data relating to what we call hidden taxpayer costs. Here is an outline:
Company Case Studies
Wal-Mart: We have collected a particularly large quantity of information on Wal-Mart, which because of its size has probably been involved in more subsidy deals than any other U.S. company. This information is summarized in our 2004 report Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth and a special website called WAL-MART SUBSIDY WATCH. For an overview of Wal-Mart's various tax avoidance schemes, see our report Shfting the Burden for Vital Public Services.
- See also the subsidy deal profiles on the Accountable USA state pages. An index of those profiles by company name can be found here.
- And don't forget you can use Subsidy Tracker to search for data on subsidy awards from around the country.
Industry Case Studies
Corporate Advocates
Resources
Accountable USA
Learn more about subsidy practices and controversial deals in this resource covering each of the 50 states and Washington, DC.
Subsidy Tracker
The first national compilation of company-specific information on economic development subsidy awards from around the country. Search the database here.
