corporate incentives Archives

Economy

Corporate Handouts Are Leverage

States and cities can make free money less free, if they try.

November 22, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

Last month, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, as part of an ongoing fight he has with the Republican-controlled state legislature over the minimum wage, released an executive order requiring corporations that receive tax incentives or grants from the state to pay the same minimum wage that state contractors must pay ($13.50 an hour, increasing to ...

A CEO (Allegedly) Admitted to the Scam

Was Domo offered millions to stay in Utah—without ever planning to leave?

November 15, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

As readers here well know, a key fact about corporate tax subsidies is that they don’t actually influence corporate behavior: Research shows that nearly all of them simply pay corporate leaders to do what they would have done anyway for other reasons. The trouble is that CEOs and executives like to ...

Media Secret Keepers

Why local journalists don’t care more about corporate subsidy mysteries

October 22, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

On October 15, 2021, the Tampa Bay Times published an article explaining that the St. Petersburg, Florida city council granted nearly half a million dollars plus a potential future property tax exemption to an unnamed retail corporation, a “mystery company” as the lede puts it. Reading between the lines, it seems the ...