Good Jobs First Blog

Good Jobs First today lauded the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) for its latest formal guidance on how localities and states should disclose the costs of economic development tax breaks. Noting that the guidance apparently corrects at least one state auditor and some accounting firms, Good Jobs First called upon state officials and firms to publicize the new guidance and, if necessary, to revise and re-issue any erroneous instructions they may have given.

Washington, DC, March 9, 2017—A study released today examining various tax incentives and tax accounting practices in New Mexico found that the state could gain more than $206 million per year by enacting safeguards common in other states. The study also finds that New Mexico lags behind most other states in making public relevant information about its tax incentive programs.

More than half of the nation’s 50 biggest cities and counties still fail to disclose online even the names of the companies receiving property tax abatements or other costly economic development incentives. Even fewer report incentive-deal outcomes: Only 13 of the 50 localities disclose the number of actual jobs created by one of their key incentive programs.

While Washington is focused on deregulation, the country’s first database on corporate crime has documented the wave of cases against major companies resolved by the Obama Administration during its final weeks.

January 18, 2017--Amazon last week announced it will “create” 100,000 jobs as it rolls out Same-Day Delivery to customers throughout the country. While it’s great publicity after the company received negative tweets from the President-elect, taxpayer shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this represents net job creation in retailing.

Indeed, consider