For local governments, acknowledging GASB Statement No. 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures is not a bad start, but not disclosing the amount of taxes abated is bad for transparency. This blog exposes the common "excuses".

When a local government does not report on tax abatements, is it not complying with the GASB 77 disclosure rule, or is there nothing to disclose? This blog answers the question.

Good Jobs First – a non-profit, non-partisan research center focusing on economic development accountability – today published the second half of a 13-state report “Putting State Pension Costs in Context.” The report found that Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont together spend more than $17 billion per year in development subsidies and tax breaks for corporations, about five times the states’ yearly pension obligations.

Many governments on July-to-June fiscal years have now issued their FY19 Financial Reports,  and we at Good Jobs First are scanning them for tax abatement disclosures and adding them to our FY18 analysis. We discuss here our first take on reports from states and major local jurisdictions.

Washington, DC: January 22, 2020 – Public pensions are seriously underfunded in some states, and the situation is not helped by the fact that states continue to give huge tax breaks and other subsidies to corporations. Such subsidies often exceed the amount a state owes to maintain its pension obligations.