The Revenue Impact of Corporate Tax Incentives on South Carolina Public Schools 2017-2021
South Carolina’s public schools reported $534 million in revenues lost to corporate tax abatements in FY 2021, an increase of 65% compared to just four years earlier. In the five years such reporting has been required, South Carolina schools have lost a total of $2.2 billion. No other state in the nation reports that much school revenue lost to corporations. It means less money for early childhood education, smaller class sizes, public health, emergency medical assistance, community centers, roads, sanitation, and other vital services.
Press Release
Full Report
Financial Exposure: Rating the States on Economic Development Transparency
by Kasia Tarczynska, Christine Wen, and Katie Furtado
An evaluation of 250 major state-level economic development programs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that 154 of those programs—or 62%—disclose which companies receive public support, while 96 do not. But almost every state knows how to disclose and does so: 48 states plus the District of Columbia—or 96%—provide some degree of recipient disclosure. The gap reflects how inconsistent states are in reporting on all their major programs.
Press Release
Full Report
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
District of Columbia,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
by Adam Warner and Philip Mattera
An analysis of 2,000 consumer protection and safety cases brought by state public utility commissions across the country over the past two decades finds that California accounts for well over half of the $13 billion in fines and settlements, largely because of $5 billion paid by Pacific Gas & Electric for causing wildfires and other offenses.
Press Release
Full Report
Amazon.com's Hidden Worldwide Subsidies
by Kenneth P. Thomas, Kasia Tarczynska, Arlene Martínez, Christine Wen, Greg LeRoy
Published: February, 2022
Amazon.com, the $1.4 trillion tech juggernaut and notorious tax-dodger, is not only vying for more consumers’ dollars, it also aggressively seeks taxpayers’ money. It has gotten at least $4.7 billion globally, though the total is undoubtedly higher. The full report by UNI Global Union and Good Jobs First, is entitled Amazon.com's Hidden Worldwide Subsidies.
Press Release
Full Report
Federal Dollars, States’ Recoveries: How Poorly Most States are Disclosing CARES ACT Spending
Published: December, 2021
Most states are failing to provide a full and complete picture of how they have been spending billions of dollars in assistance provided by Congress to help their residents recover from the financial burdens caused by COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, just six states do it well: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wyoming. Eight states and the District of Columbia fail to disclose any meaningful information online.
These are among the findings from a Good Jobs First review of the online disclosure practices of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as they have spent a combined $111.8 billion from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF).
Press Release
Full Report
Update (1/4/2022): After this report was published, officials at the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) brought to our attention that the Coronavirus Relief Fund spending data posted at on pandemicoversight.gov is cumulative, despite the columns being labeled for only the latest quarter. We had reached out to PRAC while writing the report to fact-check our findings, which included our observation that only the most recent quarter’s data was publicly showing, but PRAC did not respond.
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
District of Columbia,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
Revealing the True Costs of Tax Incentives: Eight Critical Improvements Needed for GASB Statement No. 77
by Christine Wen and Greg LeRoy
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures, a 2015 amendment to public-sector Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), requires GAAP-compliant U.S. state and local governments to report revenue lost to economic development tax abatements. Four years into the rule’s widespread adoption, compliance is uneven, and the resulting data is too often missing or misleadingly reported. In this white paper, we recommend eight actions by the GASB to improve compliance and generate more robust abatement disclosures from governments.
Update (11/1/2021): A passage is added on page 15 to include a suggestion for transition to machine-readable financial reporting.
Press Release
Full Report
Abating Our Future: How Students Pay for Corporate Tax Breaks
by Christine Wen, Katie Furtado and Greg LeRoy
Economic development tax abatements given to corporations cost public school districts $2.37 billion in foregone revenue in fiscal year 2019. That’s an increase of 13 percent – a $273 million jump – from just two years earlier and came during the pre-pandemic period of economic prosperity, a new report details.
The losses were widespread: 97 school districts lost more than $5 million each, and 149 districts lost more than $1,000 per student. That left less money for students, who suffered poorer schools, and caused working families to pay higher local and state taxes.
Press Release
Full Report
The Other Environmental Regulators: How States Unevenly Enforce Pollution Laws
by Philip Mattera and Anthony Kay Baggaley
The latest expansion of Violation Tracker consists of more than 50,000 environmental enforcement actions brought by state regulators over the past 20 years. This report analyzes the data and finds striking differences among the states in their degree of regulatory zeal. It also reveals which companies and industries have paid the most in state environmental penalties.
Press Release
Full Report
Covering Amazon on Deadline
by Arlene Martinez and Pat Garofalo
The arrival of Amazon coming to town often excites elected officials and Chambers of Commerce representatives, who gush over how it will lift up workers and boost the regional economy. But beyond the breathless press releases and equally excitable media write-ups, there’s a bigger story to tell about the full impact Amazon has on a community.
Here are 5 things to consider when Amazon comes to town.
Press Release
Reporter's Guide to Covering Amazon
WORKPLACE WARNINGS: The Need for a New and Improved Paycheck Protection Program
Published: December, 2020
More than 190,000 American workers have been laid off since March across 1,900 companies that received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The companies intended to support 251,000 workers – instead, they laid off 76 percent of them. About one in eight of those workers lost their jobs permanently.
Press Release
Full Report
The Revenue Impact of Corporate Tax Incentives on South Carolina Public Schools
by Christine Wen, Kasia Tarczynska, and Greg LeRoy
Published: September, 2020
Public school districts in South Carolina suffered a sharp increase in lost tax revenue in FY 2019 due to corporate tax abatements: $423 million. This is $99 million, or 31 percent, more than two years earlier. Already-poor school districts lost the most: the six school districts that reported the biggest per-pupil revenue losses also have some of the highest student poverty; four of them have a Black plus Hispanic majority. The costly tax abatements are negotiated by South Carolina's counties pursuant to state law. In this report, we present our findings on the programs, deals, and costs, and offer a menu of policy options to protect the state's most foundational economic development investment--its public education system.
Press Release
Full Report
by Philip Mattera and Mellissa Chang
Published: September, 2020
More than 43,000 businesses and non-profit organizations that received CARES Act funds have a history of misconduct, collectively paying $13 billion to settle civil and criminal penalties over the last decade.
Together, the same companies received $57 billion in grants and $91 billion in loans through the federal economic stimulus bill passed by Congress to mitigate the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Press Release
Full Report
Putting Pension Costs in Context: How Corporate Tax Breaks are Diverting State Revenue Needed for Public Employees' Retirement (Part II)
The second part of this report looks at seven states that are putting corporate welfare before pension security for public employees. $7 billion was spent on corporate subsidies and tax breaks in Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont in FY2018/2019. Less than half of that amount would have covered the states' pension system contributions.
Press Release
Full Report
Putting Pension Costs in Context: How Corporate Tax Breaks are Diverting State Revenue Needed for Public Employees' Retirement (Part I)
The first part of this report looks at six states that are simultaneously in danger of not being able to pay public employees' pensions and giving out massive corporate tax breaks. $3 billion was spent on corporate subsidies and tax breaks in Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Wyoming during FY 2018. About two-thirds of that amount would have covered the states' pension system contributions. Curbing corporate welfare can make a substantial difference in relieving the pressure on state budgets and supporting retirement security for millions of public employees.
Press Release
Full Report
Bipartisan Corporate Crime-Fighting by the States has Yielded Over $100 Billion in Company Payouts
by Philip Mattera and Anthony Kay Baggaley
Published: September, 2019
A new report from the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First on lawsuits filed by state attorneys general shows that the current cases against the drug companies and the tech sector are part of a long-standing practice of bipartisan cooperation in fighting corporate misconduct.
The report focuses on 644 cases in which AGs from multiple states took on companies over issues ranging from mortgage abuses to illicit marketing of prescription drugs and collected more than $100 billion in settlements over the past two decades. These multistate cases are a subset of more than 7,000 state AG actions compiled for the latest expansion of Violation Tracker and now available for searching on the database.
Press Release
Full Report
List of Multistate AG Cases
Lessons for the U.S.: How the EU Controls Bidding Wars for Jobs and Investment
by Greg LeRoy and Kenneth Thomas
The European Union’s rules on subsidies limit bidding wars, and make the level of incentives we have seen for Amazon, Foxconn, and other companies completely impossible.
Full text of Shelterforce article
Published: February, 2019
Many Americans are rightly aghast at the “economic war among the states” as exposed by Amazon’s HQ2 auction. Now, they are also emboldened to challenge this corrosive war by the enormous community organizing victory in New York City that caused Amazon to cancel one new headquarters in Queens. Good Jobs First proposes five ways to rein in the problem of governments over-spending for economic development deals—so they can better focus on strategies that work.
Full text.
Big Business Bias: Employment Discrimination and Sexual Harassment at Large Corporations
Published by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First, this report analyzes which large corporations have paid the most penalties in workplace discrimination and harassment cases.
Press Release
Full Report
The New Math on School Finance: Adding Up the First-Ever Disclosure of Corporate Tax Abatements’ Cost to Public Education
Published: December, 2018
Public schools across the country lost at least $1 .8 billion last year as a result of economic development tax incentives granted to corporations. School districts in ten states, led by South Carolina, New York and Louisiana, collectively lost $1.6 billion. If this money were instead reinvested in hiring new teachers and reducing class size, these ten states alone could add more than 28,000 teachers.
Press Release
Full Report
Good Jobs First: Amazon HQ2, HQ3 Subsidy Awards Costly, Not Yet Fully Accounted For
Published: November, 2018
The paper examines and compares five local and regional economic development agencies: Memphis Economic Development Growth Engine, Invest Atlanta, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, and New Orleans Business Alliance. It pays special attention to company recruitment, small business development and neighborhood revitalization as well as staff size and funding sources.
Full report
Cities need to stop selling out to big tech companies. There's a better way.
by Greg LeRoy and Maryann Feldman
Every mayor and governor wants to attract hi-tech jobs. But too few elected officials have taken the time to learn how hi-tech companies start up, how they thrive, and how government can best assist them – without overspending on a few big deals. Using “old economy” incentives for “new economy” firms can be costly and counterproductive.
HQ2 Employees Might Unwittingly Pay Their Taxes to Amazon
There’s a very real chance that when Amazon.com, Inc. starts hiring employees for its second headquarters, or HQ2, those employees’ state personal income taxes won’t all go to the state treasury. Billions of dollars in taxes may instead be diverted to the company, of which CEO Jeff Bezos owns 17 percent.
Link to full story at CityLab.com
by Philip Mattera with a policy chapter by Adam Shah of Jobs With Justice Education Fund
A detailed analysis of court records concerning wage and hour lawsuits as well as federal and selected state enforcement data shows that a wide range of large corporations have paid out billions of dollars in wage theft settlements, verdicts and fines.
Full report (revised)
Press release
Appendices
Will Amazon’s HQ2 Auction be a Community Benefits Game-Changer, or a Monument to High-Tech Arrogance?
Amazon.com, Inc.’s HQ2 project is the biggest “buffalo hunt” in U.S. history, as measured in potential jobs. Besides disrupting the lives of thousands of government staffers and consultants scrambling to file those 238 applications last fall, a project of this magnitude could change the way economic development projects are negotiated and incentives are designed.
Or not. It could instead reinforce everything that is wrong, process-wise, about America’s site location system, with its corporate-dominated norms that exclude taxpayers and cause governments to over-spend on “megadeals” that can’t fiscally break even.
Link to Full Story at Site Selection Magazine
As Amazon.com conducts site visits at the 20 finalist locations for its second headquarters, or HQ2 project, little is known about most of those localities’ first-round bids. Almost nothing at all is known about six. Billions of dollars are at stake, yet few states and cities have fully disclosed their bids. Even those that have partially disclosed have not revealed the details of their tax-break offers and their costs to taxpayers.
Press Release
Full Report
To Meet Amazon’s Tax-Break Demands For HQ2, Will Cities Get Steamrolled Or Win Community Benefits?
As a veteran observer of corporate site location behavior, I’m looking askance at the rare public auction that Amazon is staging for its “HQ2,” or second-headquarters project. From meticulous message control to granular preparation of its arguments (who cites obscure federal agencies in press release footnotes?), the online retail behemoth’s bodacious PR stunt will no doubt become a business school case study.
Link to Story in Fast Company
Putting State Pension Costs in Context: How They Compare to the Cost of Corporate Subsidies, Tax Breaks and Loopholes
Good Jobs First Updated June 2018
Public pensions are under assault throughout the United States. Led to believe that retirement costs for government workers are out of control, governors and legislators in numerous states have been moving to cut benefits and tighten eligibility requirements.
In a series of short papers, Good Jobs First seeks to put current pension costs (known as employer normal costs) into comparative context. Focusing on 13 states where pensions have been debated, we compare those costs to the amount of revenue those states lose each year as the result of economic development subsidies offered to corporations as well as the tax preferences and accounting loopholes (including offshore tax havens) used by companies.
As a matter of honest accounting and fair budgeting, state leaders should examine all forms of spending before they single out pensions or any other expense. Corporate tax breaks and loopholes are often poorly understood and little-noticed because they do not get debated and annually or bi-annually reauthorized the way appropriations do, nor do they often get sunsetted or audited. But over time, they add up to hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars per year.
Press Release
National Summary
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oregon
Texas
Memo To Mayors Courting Amazon’s HQ2: Now’s The Time To Be Stingy And Smart
Published: September, 2017
Public officials should think carefully before offering extremely costly tax-break offers to a company valued at $450 billion and with a long history of tax avoidance.
Amazon.com Inc.’s announcement that it will build a massive second headquarters—”HQ2″— and stage a public competition among metro areas for it, has set off a national frenzy. Over a hundred cities from Chicago and Cincinnati to Tacoma and Tampa Bay (and even 23 different neighborhoods in New York City) have expressed interest in bidding for the headquarters, offering everything from massive tax incentives to a 23-foot-tall cactus to court the online retail behemoth.
Link to Full Article at Fast Company
Amazon's HQ2 and the Rise of Big-Ticket Megadeals
Published: September, 2017
Amazon’s stunning announcement that it will build a second headquarters that could eventually employ 50,000 has triggered a frantic bidding war that may see the company win billions of dollars in tax incentives and other subsidies. But it’s the third such episode in three months. Wisconsin enacted a $3 billion subsidy deal for Foxconn and the State of Iowa with a Des Moines suburb awarded $213 million to Apple.
It’s the economic development elephant in the room: Why on earth do governments keep giving corporations tax break packages worth hundreds of thousands of dollars per job—and in Apple’s case, more than $4 million per job?
Link to Full Story
Foxconn’s $3 Billion Tax-Break Deal Is A Loss For Smart Jobs Policies
In this article posted on the Fast Company website, Greg LeRoy argues that the biggest jobs deal yet to be announced during the Trump administration exemplifies everything that’s wrong with our nation’s economic development system. Full text.
Greg LeRoy discusses how Amazon has gained market share through the receipt of tax incentives. He argues that state and local governments shouldn’t be paying Amazon to undermine other retailers.
Why Public Officials Should Embrace GASB 77
In a guest column for the influential government performance website of Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, the B & G Report, we argue that public officials have a strong self-interest in complying with GASB Statement 77 and in encouraging a smarter public debate over public spending priorities that will be enabled by the new data.
Link to column
Early Tax Abatement Disclosures Under GASB 77: Incomplete, Mislabeled -- and Occasionally Spectacular
As of early June 2017, more than a dozen local governments have issued Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) reporting for the first time how much revenue they lost to economic development tax break programs. Some are overly narrow, others needlessly difficult to decipher -- and a few provide taxpayers outstanding new information.
Link to full story
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement No. 77 on Cost Reporting of Tax Abatements for Economic Development
For the first time ever, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board is requiring that state and local governments report how much revenue they lose to business tax breaks granted for economic development purposes.Good Jobs First has updated its 2015 analysis of the GASB Rule No. 77.
Analysis
by Greg LeRoy, Thomas Cafcas and Philip Mattera of Good Jobs First and Lisa Christensen Gee and Dylan Grundman of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
This study examines various tax incentives and tax accounting practices in New Mexico and finds 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.
Press Release
Full Report
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.
full report
press release
States Featured: Arizona,
California,
Colorado,
District of Columbia,
Florida,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Nevada,
New York,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Virginia
by Greg LeRoy, in Bloomberg BNA
In a landmark breakthrough in public finance, a new government accounting rule will soon start generating massive amounts of new data on ‘‘corporate welfare."
Disclosing the Costs of Corporate Welfare
by Greg LeRoy in The American Prospect
For decades, politicians of both parties have touted the glories of massive tax-break deals. Whether it’s a governor announcing an auto assembly plant or a mayor breaking ground for a new mall, they invariably take credit for the jobs and claim that tax breaks did the trick.
But the costs of such deals and the programs that bankroll them have seldom been fully disclosed. The details are usually buried in different state, county, and city agencies. And of course, the costs are suffered by taxpayers over decades, long after the politicians win their re-election.
Read the full article on The American Prospect website.
by Thomas Cafcas and Greg LeRoy
Published: December, 2016
States Featured: California,
Connecticut,
Florida,
Georgia,
Illinois,
Kansas,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Minnesota,
Nevada,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
Texas,
Wisconsin
Published: December, 2016
Donald Trump’s controversial deal with Carrier Corp. has ushered in a long-overdue debate over corporate giveaways that come at taxpayers’ expense.
Money Lost to the Cloud: How Data Centers Benefit from State and Local Government Subsidies
This report explores state and local subsidies provided to data centers owned by tech giants. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon Web Services have been awarded more than $2 billion. The report identifies 11 data center megadeals with the average cost per job of $1.95 million. It also covers data-center-specific tax exemption programs in 27 states.
Press Release
Full Report
by Thomas Cafcas & Greg LeRoy
Published: September, 2016
Using data from dozens of programs and deals in Good Jobs First’s Subsidy Tracker database, we draw sharp comparisons between the costs of workforce development programs versus company-specific “megadeals.” Whereas 31 out of 33 training programs have four-figure costs per job, our current megadeals database shows an average cost to taxpayers of more than $658,000 per job.
Press Release
Full Report
The $160 Billion Bank Fee: What Violation Tracker 2.0 Shows about Penalties Imposed on Major Financial Offenders
An analysis of a subset of the new data added to Violation Tracker documents the astounding variety of big bank misconduct.
full report
press release
Slicing the Budget Pie for Big Business: How Three States Allocate Economic Development Dollars, Large Companies versus Small
by Kasia Tarczynska and Thomas Cafcas with Greg LeRoy
Amidst a political season thick with pro-small business rhetoric, a new study on what states actually spend to help create private-sector jobs reveals a sharp bias against the “entrepreneurial economy.”
press release
full text
BP and Its Brethren: Identifying the Largest Violators of Environmental, Health and Safety Laws in the United States
States Featured: California,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Kansas,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
New Jersey,
New York,
Texas,
Virginia,
Wisconsin
Shortchanging Small Business: How Big Businesses Dominate State Economic Development Incentives
by Greg LeRoy, Carolyn Fryberger, Kasia Tarczynska, Thomas Cafcas, Elizabeth Bird and Philip Mattera
Governors and state legislators routinely praise small businesses for their contributions to economic growth and job creation, but states actually give big businesses the dominant share of their economic development incentive awards.
press release
full report
States Featured: Florida,
Indiana,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Missouri,
Nevada,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
Pennsylvania,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Wisconsin
In Search of A Level Playing Field: What Leaders of Small Business Organizations Think About Economic Development Incentives
by Carolyn Fryberger et al.
Published: September, 2015
A national survey of leaders of small business organizations reveals that they overwhelmingly believe that state economic development incentives favor big businesses, that states are overspending on large individual deals, and that state incentive programs are not effectively meeting the needs of small businesses seeking to grow.
full report
press release
States Featured: Arizona,
California,
Connecticut,
Florida,
Illinois,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Missouri,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Texas,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
Wisconsin
Uncle Sam's Favorite Corporations: Identifying the Large Companies that Dominate Federal Subsidies
by Philip Mattera and Kasia Tarczynska
Based on an expansion of the Subsidy Tracker database to the federal level, this report shows that big business receives an outsize share of grants, allocated tax credits, loans, loan guarantees and bailout funds awarded by federal agencies.
press release
full report
Subsidy Tracker 3.0
A Better Deal for the District: Enhancing Economic Development Transparency and Accountability in Washington, DC
Published: February, 2015
The District of Columbia has embraced four best-practice economic development policies (local hiring, fiscal impact analyses, the debt cap, and a Unified Economic Development Budget or UEDB), but it remains behind on many basic accountability standards relative to nearby jurisdictions.
This report seeks to show how the District can build upon its past progress by disclosing the details of subsidy projects in an online database, requiring strong job creation and quality standards, and recapturing subsidies when recipients underperform.
full report
press release
Tax Fairness: An Answer to State Budget Problems
by Steve Herzenberg and Greg LeRoy
Published: February, 2015
This report from Keystone Research Center and Good Jobs First shows that states could generate up to $128 billion in revenue to meet state needs by fixing inequities in state tax codes. The study shows that surging inequality has skewed huge amounts of income to the one percent, who pay far lower tax rates than the middle class, squeezing state budgets unnecessarily.
full report (revised Feb. 18, 2015)
Sprawl vs. Unions
The three very different stories of Building Trades union members in Atlanta, Denver, and Portland, Ore., show just how much urban development patterns affect workers.
full text
Tax Breaks and Inequality: Enriching Billionaires and Low-Road Employers in the Name of Economic Development
by Philip Mattera, Kasia Tarczynska and Greg LeRoy
Published: December, 2014
A mash-up of data from Subsidy Tracker with companies linked to members of the Forbes 400 and large low-wage employers indicates that corporate tax breaks and other subsidies are contributing to economic inequality.
press release
full report
Work for All the Crafts: Building Normal's Multimodal Transit Hub into Illinois' Second Busiest Amtrak Station
by Thomas Cafcas and Greg LeRoy
The building of Normal, Illinois’ Uptown Station created 140,000 hours of work for construction workers in at least 13 different crafts, who were then suffering the highest unemployment rates of their careers. The $49 million project was supported by a $22 million Transportation Infrastructure Generating Employment Recovery (TIGER) grant, part of the federal stimulus.
press release
full report
Ending Job Piracy, Building Regional Prosperity
by Leigh McIlvaine with Greg LeRoy
Local job piracy – the use of subsidies to attract businesses from nearby communities in the same metro area – generates heavy costs for regions in terms of both lost tax revenues and externalities associated with sprawl while failing to create new jobs. But anti-piracy agreements used by the Denver, Colorado and Dayton, Ohio regions have cultivated an economic development ethos that is focused on shared regional prosperity.
full report
press release
by Thomas Cafcas with Kasia Tarczynska, Philip Mattera and Greg LeRoy
The City of Memphis has chosen to deliberately avoid its municipal pension obligations at the same time it has granted a series of costly property tax abatements, or PILOTs, to large corporations such as Nike and International Paper while also taking on big debt obligations to benefit other companies such as Electrolux
and Bass Pro and professional sports franchises.
Work for All the Crafts: Restoring the Union Depot in St. Paul
by Greg LeRoy and Thomas Cafcas
Thirteen Building Trades crafts got work when the stimulus-backed TIGER program helped restore the Union Depot in St. Paul. And the resulting redevelopment around the Depot and along the new Green Line between the Twin Cities' downtowns will create billions of dollars' more work for years to come.
press release
full report
Public pensions are under threat of cuts in Chicago. Rhetoric surrounding the issue seems to ignore the influence of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) on reducing critical revenues for the City of Chicago. Nearly one out of every ten property tax dollars collected gets diverted into TIF accounts. Good Jobs First seeks to put current pension costs (known as employer normal costs) into comparative context with revenue diverted into TIF accounts. Any fair budgeting discussion of pensions must include the enormous revenues diverted by TIF.
Published: February, 2014
As a result of substantial enhancements we have made to our Subsidy Tracker database, it is possible for the first time to estimate the share of total state and local economic development awards going to the largest corporations.This report summarizes the findings.
full report
press release
Subsidy Tracker 2.0 database
Top 100 Parents
Putting State Pension Costs in Context
Public pensions are under assault throughout the United States. Led to believe that retirement costs for government workers are out of control, governors and legislators in numerous states have been moving to cut benefits and tighten eligibility requirements. Good Jobs First seeks to put current pension costs (known as employer normal costs) into comparative context. Focusing on 10 states where the pension cost controversy has been intense, we compare those costs to the amount of revenue those states lose each year as the result of economic development subsidies offered to corporations as well as the tax preferences and accounting loopholes (including offshore tax havens) used by companies.
Press release
National summary
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Illinois
Louisiana
Michigan
Missouri
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Combined version of national and state papers
Show Us the Subsidized Jobs: An Evaluation of State Government Online Disclosure of Economic Development Subsidy Awards and Outcomes
by Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Kasia Tarczynska, Elizabeth Bird and Greg LeRoy
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
District of Columbia,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
Creating Scandals Instead of Jobs: The Failures of Privatized State Economic Development Agencies
by Greg LeRoy, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Kasia Tarczynska and Philip Mattera
The moves by some states to outsource economic development functions to “public-private partnerships” have, by and large, become costly failures characterized by misuse of taxpayer funds, conflicts of interest, excessive executive pay and bonuses, questionable subsidy awards, exaggerated job-creation claims, lack of public disclosure of key records, and resistance to basic oversight.
Full report Press release
by Greg LeRoy, Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas and Leigh McIlvaine
Published: September, 2013
Good Jobs First asks whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry's unprecedented partisan job-piracy trips have been financed in part by taxpayer dollars.
Press release Full report
Megadeals: The Largest Economic Development Subsidy Packages Ever Awarded By State and Local Governments in the United States
by Philip Mattera and Kasia Tarczynska with Greg LeRoy
In a painstaking review using hundreds of sources, Good Jobs First identifies 240 “megadeals,” or subsidy awards with a total state and local cost of $75 million or more each. The cumulative cost of these deals is more than $64 billion. The megadeals list is a new enhancement of Good Jobs First’s Subsidy Tracker database, the first online compilation of company-specific data on economic development deals from around the country.
Full report
Press release
full list of megadeals (with details) in spreadsheet form
Note: This list contains new deals that have come to light since the report was published.
Over the course of the next 15 years, DC Water will undertake $2.6 billion in needed water infrastructure improvements resulting in less pollution entering the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. Sink or Swim? uses original research to analyze how DC Water will pay for the Clean Rivers Project and how it could benefit District residents through a local hiring policy.
Full text of report
Press release
Show Us the Local Subsidies: Cities and Counties Disclosing Economic Development Subsidies
by Leigh McIlvaine and Philip Mattera with Greg LeRoy
Two-thirds of the economic development subsidy programs run by the nation’s largest cities and counties do not use the web to report which companies are receiving the tax breaks and other forms of financial assistance. Among the third of programs that do practice online transparency, most do so poorly, failing to disclose the dollar value of the subsidies. An even smaller number reveal key outcomes such as how many jobs were created. On the other hand, a few localities such as Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee; New York City; Austin, Texas; and Chicago do a good job at disclosure.
full report
press release
Bosses for Buses: U.S. Employers Supporting Public Transit
by Greg LeRoy, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Kasia Tarczynska and Philip Mattera
American employers are organizing and winning better public transportation in many metro areas. Major employers such as universities and hospitals and coalitions of businesses help explain why state and local ballot initiatives for transit consistently win more than 70 percent of the time.
Yet at the national level, there is not a unified corporate voice for transit; this has been especially evident during three recent federal debates that affected this vital public service. Instead, there are disparate voices speaking only to selected aspects of transit
full report
press release
by Philip Mattera and Kasia Tarczynska
In this report commissioned by the United Auto Workers, Good Jobs First found that state and local officials in Mississippi have provided a lot more in subsidies to Nissan's assembly plant in Canton than has previously been reported.
full report
press release
by Peter Fisher, with a preface by Greg LeRoy
Prominent studies that purport to measure and rank the states’ “business climates” are actually politicized grab-bags of data. They contradict each other wildly, have no predictive value, and should not be used to inform public policies. This is only the third such analysis of pseudo-social science “business climatology” in 27 years.
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
The Job-Creation Shell Game: Ending the Wasteful Practice of Subsidizing Companies that Move Jobs from One State to Another
by Greg LeRoy, Kasia Tarczynska, Leigh McIlvaine, Thomas Cafcas and Philip Mattera
This study describes how state and local governments waste billions of dollars each year on economic development subsidies given to companies for moving existing jobs from one state to another rather. It also looks at how the existence of relocation subsidies emboldens some large companies to demand large job blackmail subsidies to stay put. The report offers policy recommendations to address the problem.
full report
press release
States Featured: California,
Georgia,
Illinois,
Kansas,
Massachusetts,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
New Jersey,
New York,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Texas
Published: December, 2012
Despite a building boom in the District of Columbia, D.C. residents remain underrepresented on area construction sites. Recently strengthened local hiring rules could reduce the gap, but much remains to be done to implement the new policy. Taxation without Employment: The Case for the District’s Strong Local Hiring Rules reviews the District’s experience with local hiring and explores why the recently strengthened requirements appear successful.
full report
press release
Published: November, 2012
Co-published with the Iowa Policy Project
An analysis of the 15-point ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index finds that it does not predict a stronger state economy. Indeed, those states ALEC rates best have done the worst since ALEC first began issuing Rich States, Poor States annually.
Full Report
Press Release
Published: November, 2012
In this article for the American Planning Association’s Planning magazine, Greg LeRoy joins other economic development experts in providing advice to the new Administration.
Economic Development Accountability Model Legislation
by Leigh McIlvaine and Greg LeRoy
Published: September, 2012
A study of the efforts of four states to curb “job sprawl” by altering economic development subsidies finds that they have had little effect on transit ridership. Full report. Press release.
Paying Taxes to the Boss: How a Growing Number of States Subsidize Companies with the Withholding Taxes of Workers
by Philip Mattera, Kasia Tarczynska, Leigh McIlvaine, Thomas Cafcas and Greg LeRoy
States Featured: Colorado,
Connecticut,
Georgia,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Maine,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
South Carolina,
Utah
by Thomas Cafcas and Greg LeRoy
Published: February, 2012
Illinois loses over a billion dollars in potential tax revenues through four corporate tax loopholes—three involving how taxable corporate income is computed and another that allows retailers to “skim” from consumers’ sales tax payments.
by Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Andrew Seifter and Kasia Tarczynska
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
by Greg LeRoy with nine contributors
Published: December, 2011
Based on two community-labor “boot camps,” this first-ever manual features inspirational stories of creative grassroots campaign victories. Plus links to strategic resources and a national directory of rider groups. Press release.
by Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Andrew Seifter and Kasia Tarczynska
Published: December, 2011
This follow-up to our Show Us the Subsidies report evaluates state subsidy programs on their job-creation and other performance requirements as well as their job quality (wage and benefit) standards. Press Release. Full Report. Executive Summary. Appendices.
States Featured: Alabama,
Alaska,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Delaware,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
National,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Vermont,
Virginia,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
by Citizens for Tax Justice and Good Jobs First
Published: November, 2011
In this report produced jointly with Citizens for Tax Justice, we look at Verizon's federal and state tax dodging in general as well as its tax avoidance linked to state and local economic development subsidies.
States Featured: Alabama,
Arkansas,
Maine,
Montana,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
South Carolina,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah
Published: November, 2011
Many workers providing food and retail service at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) are paid so little that they and their families depend on Medicaid, the Maryland Children’s Health Program, and food stamps.
by Thomas Cafcas with Greg LeRoy
Connecticut’s major economic development expenditures are high in cost, poorly monitored and may be undermining the public goods that actually constitute the state’s competitive advantage for jobs. press release
Published: September, 2011
This study, prepared at the request of the Communications Workers of America, finds that 16 T-Mobile call centers in 11 states have received a total of $61 million in subsidies.
States Featured: Florida,
Georgia,
Idaho,
Kansas,
Maine,
Missouri,
New Mexico,
Oregon,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Washington
Paid to Sprawl: Subsidized Job Flight from Cleveland and Cincinnati
by Greg LeRoy and Leigh McIlvaine
by Philip Mattera, Leigh McIlvaine, Thomas Cafcas and Greg LeRoy
Eliminating or reducing ineffective corporate subsidy programs can make a significant contribution to the efforts of state governments to address budget deficits. This report profiles ten poorly performing programs that would make good targets. Full report. Press release.
by Bettina Damiani and Elizabeth Bird
This report by Good Jobs New York analyzes transparency and accountability issues relating to New York City's Recovery Zone Facility Bond deals.
by Fiscal Policy Institute, Good Jobs New York and the National Employment Law Project
Published: February, 2011
This policy brief outlines the mix of tools the New York City Industrial Development Agency uses to subsidize economic development—including financial assistance, tax breaks, capital improvements, and the sale or lease of City‐owned land—and provides an estimate of the quality of jobs created or retained by three significant subsidized projects.
Published: February, 2011
This synopsis of our previous reports on Walmart and research by others finds that the giant retailer is avoiding a total of about $400 million a year in state and local taxes.
by Philip Mattera, Leigh McIlvaine, Thomas Cafcas and Caitlin Lacy
Governors in several states are pushing for the privatization of their economic development agencies. Public-Private Power Grab reviews the track record of states that have already taken this step and finds a history of performance problems, scandals and diminished accountability. Full report. Press release.
States Featured: Arizona,
Florida,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Michigan,
Ohio,
Rhode Island,
Texas,
Utah,
Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
by Philip Mattera, Thomas Cafcas, Leigh McIlvaine, Caitlin Lacy, Elizabeth Williams and Sarah Gutschow
Published: December, 2010
Good Jobs First examines the subsidy disclosure practices of the 50 states (and D.C.). See which states do a good job of reporting on where the money is going and which keep taxpayers in the dark.
Note: Good Jobs First issued an updated version of this report in January 2014. See Show Us the Subsidized Jobs for updated disclosure information.
Report Overview (press release, appendices, executive summary)
by Matthew Mayrl and Philip Mattera
Co-published by the Apollo Alliance, this report argues that the United States should commit to the development of a strong domestic clean-energy manufacturing sector, but in doing so it should avoid the risk of indirectly subsidizing the expansion of the sector in offshore low-wage havens. An analysis of the recipients of the federal government's Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits shows that some are going to companies putting their primary emphasis on producing wind and solar generating equipment in countries such as China and India. Press release
Two unique analyses argue that states should shun the costly "economic war among the states" and grow their own high-tech jobs, by playing to their strengths in high-tech skills and by helping small and young businesses. Report Overview (press release, appendices, executive summary).
by Philip Mattera, Leigh McIlvaine, Caitlin Lacy & Thomas Cafcas
Good Jobs First re-evaluates the quality of disclosure on the websites set up by state governments to educate the public about the flow of funds from the federal stimulus act. We find that states such as Kentucky, Illinois and Minnesota have made dramatic improvements in their sites over the past six months. Report Overview (press release, state appendices, rankings summary).
by Philip Mattera, Leigh McIlvaine, Caitlin Lacy, Michelle Lee and Thomas Cafcas
An examination of the quality of disclosure on the official websites set up by state governments to educate the public about the flow of funds from the federal stimulus program. Report Overview (press release, state appendices).
by Bettina Damiani and Allison Lack
Published: February, 2009
Good Jobs New York documents local taxpayer subsidies to six firms, and their role in the Temporary Assets Relief Program or TARP - American International Group, Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch. It finds that the deals have been plagued by porous contracts that lack accountability, very poor public disclosure and job losses. The report offers common sense transparency solutions.
Published: February, 2009
As the federal government prepares to spend billions of dollars promoting the creation of green jobs as part of the huge economy recovery bill, this report warns that the jobs already being created in climate-friendly sectors of the economy do not always measure up in terms of wages and other terms of employment. The report was commissioned by Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and the Teamsters and Laborers unions.
by Allison Lirish Dean and Bettina Damiani
Perhaps the most obscure aspect of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is how it seeks to expand bond programs for public infrastructure and private economic development projects. A report released today by Good Jobs New York explains how the Recovery Act's new and expanded bond programs are facilitating economic recovery and where opportunities exist for public input.
by Greg LeRoy and Philip Mattera
Published: November, 2008
The advent of the Obama Administration presents an opportunity to reform federal economic development policy using innovations that have been pioneered at the state and local levels. Goods Jobs First provides a framework for that process in a this report released together with the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, Green for All, the National Employment Law Project, and the Partnership for Working Families. Press release
by Philip Mattera with Leigh McIlvaine
Published: November, 2008
In this report Good Jobs First reveals that retailers in 26 states are being allowed to "skim" more than $1 billion a year as compensation for collecting sales taxes on behalf of state and local governments. The biggest impact is felt in the 13 of those states that put no ceiling on the amount of compensation any given retail company can receive, thus giving a windfall to the likes of Wal-Mart. Press release
States Featured: Alabama,
Arizona,
Arkansas,
Colorado,
Florida,
Georgia,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Kentucky,
Louisiana,
Maryland,
Michigan,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New York,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania,
South Carolina,
Texas,
Utah,
Virginia,
Wisconsin
Published: February, 2008
This article, published in Planning and Environmental Law, a journal of the American Planning Association, examines the nation's most controversial kind of economic development subsidy: tax increment financing. It includes a segment on the notorious TIF dispute currently taking place in New Mexico, where radical TIF deregulation threatens to undermine funding for state and local public services.
by Philip Mattera, Karla Walter, Julie Farb Blain and Michelle Lee
Published: November, 2007
The Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First evaluates the quantity and quality of state government Web-based disclosure on economic development subsidies, procurement contracts and state lobbying activities. The study finds signs of improvement but concludes that states have a long way to go to fulfill the potential of the Internet in enhancing the public's right to know. Press release.
by Philip Mattera, Karla Walter, Julie Farb Blain and Colleen Ruddick
This first-ever investigation of Wal-Mart's local property tax records finds that the retail giant systematically seeks to minimize its payment of taxes that support public schools and other vital local government services. Online appendices with lists of stores and distribution centers examined.
by Philip Mattera, Allison Lack and Karla Walter
Good Jobs First has found that General Growth Properties, the country's second largest owner and operator of shopping malls, has drained more than $200 million in revenues from local governments around the country. This is the main finding of a study of economic development subsidies received by GGP as well as the company's frequent challenges to its property tax assessments.
States Featured: California,
Colorado,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Maryland,
Nebraska,
New Jersey,
New York,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Oregon,
Texas,
Virginia
by Bettina Damiani, Eileen Markey and Dan Steinberg
A deftly assembled lineup of former elected and appointed officials were employed by the Yankees organization to help push through a new baseball stadium even though the project won't benefit taxpayers or community members, claims Insider Baseball: How Current and Former Public Officials Pitched a Community Shutout for the New York Yankees, a new report by Good Jobs New York.
by Dan Steinberg and Sarah Stecker
The world's largest financial services firm rarely makes a move without getting taxpayers to help foot the bill, a new report suggests. Citigroup uses threats of moving facilities and jobs elsewhere to repeatedly play state against state and locality against locality and attract millions of dollars in subsidies. Over the past 18 years this practice has won Citigroup over $226 million from New York and New Jersey governments, sometimes for moving jobs from one state to the other.
Buffalo - Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) in the Buffalo/Niagara metro area are subsidizing job creation and investment, but not in areas that most need them. In Erie County, wealthy suburbs - especially those with their own IDAs' contain disproportionate shares of IDA-granted property tax exemptions, fueling regional sprawl. State law that regulates IDAs could be amended to ensure that IDA tax breaks don't undermine regional growth plans and support jobs and investment where they are most needed.
by Rachel Weber and David Santacroce
Chicago and Washington -- Local governments can write more effective contracts to improve the odds that companies receiving economic development incentives keep their promises to create good jobs and other community benefits - or pay taxpayers back.
States Featured: California,
Illinois,
Kansas,
Maine,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
Texas,
Virginia
by Jeff McCourt and Greg LeRoy
Chicago -- Job subsidies granted by several Illinois state agencies have severely shortchanged Chicago and many parts of Cook County. Instead of helping to revitalize areas in the region hardest-hit by plant closings and job flight, the state's development deals have favored affluent, outlying areas with low unemployment and the strongest tax base. The resulting spatial mismatch between new job creation at the fringe and economic need at the core means many transit-dependent workers cannot benefit from regional growth.
by Greg LeRoy, Allison Lack and Karla Walter
Published: December, 2006
The unfair geographic distribution of economic development subsidies in Michigan favors well-off and thinly populated areas, delivering few benefits to the state as a whole and harming the state's economy. The state should get all the options on the table and begin coordinating its economic development programs with land use planning to make more efficient use of infrastructure, reduce tax base stress, and revitalize existing communities.
by Greg LeRoy and Karla Water
Published: December, 2006
Economic development incentives that were originally intended to help revitalize older areas are instead being used by outlying suburbs to pirate jobs and tax revenues from older cities in the Twin Cities metro area. Local officials need a cooperative structure to curtail zero-sum job piracy and focus instead on jointly promoting the region. And the state should use incentive deals as leverage to make more jobs transit-accessible and alleviate traffic congestion.
Good Jobs First, working with Interfaith Worker Justice and the Gulf Coast Commission on Reconstruction Equity, has issued a report on the Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds. This $14 billion program, created by Congress in December, is the one portion of the Hurricane Katrina aid package that gives the affected states--Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama--control over which companies will receive economic incentives for rebuilding. Our report provides a list of policy options that would allow the states to allocate the bonds in ways that promote efficiency, equity and accountability.
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is growing in popularity, due in part to its environmental benefits and innovative design. This report emphasizes another benefit, looking at the ways TOD can serve the needs of working families - particularly those with low and moderate income - by providing affordable housing and/or better access to jobs. Good Jobs First examines 25 TOD projects around the country and finds that projects with community benefits agreements, projects initiated by community development corporations (CDCs), and projects with exceptional private developers who intentionally sought to link people to job opportunities were more likely to address the needs of working families than most TOD projects.
Published: February, 2006
Good Jobs First has just completed the first analysis of economic development deals disclosed under the new accountability law in Illinois. We found that many of the subsidies are going to companies that create jobs with pay levels below that needed for a family of four to pay basic expenses. A full assessment of the quality of the jobs is not possible, since the law does not require reporting on healthcare coverage.
by Bettina Damiani and Dan Steinberg
Published: February, 2006
This report by Good Jobs New York reveals that taxpayers will pay a far higher price for a new Yankee Stadium than public officials and team executives have let on. Direct and indirect subsidies could exceed $480 million and a city-sponsored analysis suggests the new stadium would not generate enough revenue to cover its cost to taxpayers. The report also argues that subsidizing this stadium is a costly and inefficient strategy for creating jobs. Finally, the South Bronx community that would be most impacted by the project has been excluded from the planning process.
Over the last decade, a quiet revolution has been taking place in the way that state and local governments across the country regulate commercial and residential construction. A new flexibility in the application of building codes is making possible the rehabilitation of structures that would otherwise have remained neglected or abandoned. The new wave of "rehab codes" is playing a significant role in the redevelopment of core urban areas--a process that is a vital counterbalance to unchecked suburban sprawl.
by Julian Gross, Legal Director of the Partnership for Working Families, Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First, and Madeline Janis-Aparicio of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Good Jobs First and the Partnership for Working Families produced this updated version of their handbook on Community Benefits Agreements. These agreements include benefits such as living wages, local hiring, affordable housing, environmental improvements and funding for other community needs such as health clinics and youth centers. The report also includes a section on monitoring and enforcement of such agreements, as well as excerpts from key agreements.
by Stephanie Greenwood and Bettina Damiani
Federal monies for the post-9/11 reconstruction of Lower Manhattan are skewed towards big business and high-income neighborhoods, our investigation finds. Community priorities such as affordable housing, job creation, and local transportation are being ignored. Probing the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) -- the entity formed to distribute Federal cash aid -- we found an agency that lacks transparency and has given numerous grants to companies with ties to LMDC board members.
They're in the Money; We're in the Dark is the most recent in Good Jobs New York's "Reconstruction Watch" series that evaluates the allocation of Federal economic development resources in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Previous reports and updates on allocations are available at www.goodjobsny.org
This report by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First spotlights the growing degree to which state governments are awarding contracts to offshore outsourcing firms. It was produced for the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), a local union of the Communications Workers of America that supports workers in the information technology sector. The report found that 18 offshore outsourcing firms--including several billion-dollar companies from India--are aggressively seeking state government contract work, primarily in information technology, in at least 30 states. The 18 firms have already captured at least $75 million in offshore state contracts and are seeking more, in part by hiring former government officials and by making state electoral campaign contributions. The study also looks at the large number of state food-stamp call centers that are operated offshore.
by Philip Mattera and Anna Purinton
In this extensively researched study, we show that the giant retailer has received more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies from state and local governments across the country. Taxpayers have helped finance not only Wal-Mart stores, but also the company's huge network of distribution centers, more than 90 percent of which have gotten subsidies. The report also includes policy proposals, including a prohibition on subsidies to big-box retailers except in distressed areas that are underserved by retail outlets (and in those cases the recipient of the subsidy should be required to pay a living wage).
Note: Updated information on this subject can be found on our Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch website.
by Stephanie Greenwood and Bettina Damiani
Corporate retention deals negotiated by New York City in the 1990s failed to create jobs, despite their multimillion-dollar price tags, our investigation finds. Analyzing contracts never disclosed before between large firms and NYC, the report highlights thirteen outrageous deals. Some actually allowed companies to lay off as many as 20 percent of their employees with no penalty. Finally, the report highlights problems with the public reporting on these deals, citing differences between internal city documents and a mandated annual report. Following the release of this report, the NYC Industrial Development Agency announced several improvements to its decision-making process and to the corporate retention program as a whole. For further details please visitn www.goodjobsny.org.
by Phil Mattera and Greg LeRoy
Published: November, 2003
This report, for the first time we believe, begins to provide evidence that the job-related arguments against smart growth are dead wrong. Rather than diminishing the number of construction jobs, it turns out that smart growth is in many ways better than sprawl in creating employment for workers who build residential and commercial structures as well as transportation infrastructure.
Published: November, 2003
A national survey finds that the number of economic development subsidies with job quality standards is continuing to rise sharply, and that standards are becoming an everyday tool for effectively targeting development subsidies to businesses that create high-quality jobs.
by Anne Nolan and Greg LeRoy
A review of events since Minnesota enacted its first-in-the-nation economic development accountability law in 1995 finds that the law is a major factor contributing to an increase in civic engagement in economic development issues.
Published: September, 2003
A 50-state survey of economic development subsidy programs--such as loans, grants, and tax incentives -- reveals that not one single state effectively coordinates its economic development spending with public transportation planning.
by Alyssa Talanker and Kate Davis
This report examines legislative changes to two geographically targeted economic development programs: tax increment financing (TIF) and enterprise zones. It asks the question: Have laws governing these programs been weakened to permit the use of these programs in non-blighted or affluent areas? In virtually every state that has weakened its TIF or enterprise zone program, the answer is "Yes."
States Featured: Alaska,
California,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Florida,
Georgia,
Idaho,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New York,
North Carolina,
North Dakota,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Oregon,
South Carolina,
Texas,
Utah,
Virginia,
Wisconsin
This survey of union federation leaders -- 39 central labor council leaders and 11 state labor federation leaders -- reveals that all of them see serious problems in their regions being caused by suburban sprawl.
This report, released in conjunction with the National Education Association, examines the impact of property tax based subsidies on school revenues and the role that school boards have in the economic development process.
by Jeff McCourt and Greg LeRoy
This report includes a 25-year historical narrative on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, an analysis of the EDGE Tax Credit and Single Sales Factor subsidies, and five case studies on company-specific deals.
by Alyssa Talanker and Kate Davis
Published: November, 2002
An analysis of 13 major economic development deals subsidized by the District of Columbia reveals a lack of safeguards to ensure the projects pay off for taxpayers, workers and communities.
by Anne Nolan and Greg LeRoy
This broad review reveals that North Dakotans are being asked to take it on faith that economic development subsidies are producing results.
by Kate Davis and Chauna Brocht
Published: September, 2002
An analysis of Baltimore's economic development efforts reveals a history of high costs, low benefits, and a lack of safeguards to ensure that taxpayer investments really pay off in family-wage jobs.
A comprehensive guide to researching state and local subsidies, economic development agencies, and companies.
by Phil Mattera and Mafruza Khan
The first study to catalog state and local economic development subsidies given to private prisons.
States Featured: California,
Florida,
Louisiana,
Mississippi,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
Ohio,
Oklahoma,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Utah,
Virginia
Published: December, 2000
A hands-on tool to help smart growth activists reach out to union leaders based on working-families' self-interest.
by Sara Hinkley and Fiona Hsu
Published: September, 2000
A comprehensive summary and database of 122 state performance audits of economic development programs of the last decade.
States Featured: Connecticut,
Florida,
Georgia,
Hawaii,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Kansas,
Louisiana,
Maine,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Montana,
Nebraska,
Nevada,
New Jersey,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Carolina,
Ohio,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island,
South Carolina,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Vermont,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin,
Wyoming
by Greg LeRoy and Sara Hinkley
How suburban sprawl reduces opportunity for low-skill workers and contributes to the geographic concentration of poverty, and how smart growth policies could reverse those trends.
by Greg LeRoy and Sara Hinkley
A case study of a fringe-suburban industrial park that used tax increment financing to lure 29 companies, relocating 1,600 jobs mostly away from the urban core. Includes impact analyses based on race, poverty, welfare and transit access.
by Greg LeRoy and Tyson Slocum
Published: February, 1999
An analysis of 525 economic development deals made possible by Minnesota's first-in-the-nation subsidy disclosure law, which found almost half the subsidized companies paying 20% or more below-market wages.
No More Candy Store is the original compilation of grassroots remedies for corporate welfare abuse -- remedies like money-back guarantee "clawbacks," requirements that subsidized companies pay fair wages and benefits, rules for full disclosure, environmental protection and "anti-piracy" safeguards against "paying Peter to rob Paul" with taxpayers money. Verbatim passages from all of the nation's best state and local laws and contracts, ready-made for activists, legislators and anyone seeking to make economic development subsidies accountable.
States Featured: Alabama,
Arizona,
Colorado,
Connecticut,
Georgia,
Illinois,
Indiana,
Iowa,
Maryland,
Massachusetts,
Minnesota,
Nebraska,
New Mexico,
New York,
North Dakota,
Pennsylvania,
Texas,
Washington,
West Virginia,
Wisconsin