Good Jobs First

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Report: Green Jobs are Not Always Good Jobs
Feburary 3, 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, a new report from Good Jobs First 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, entitled High Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New Green Economy, was commissioned by Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and the Teamsters and Laborers unions. [Full report] [Press release]

Uncle Sam's Rusty Toolkit
November 20, 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 new report called Uncle Sam's Rusty Toolkit, which is being 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] [full report]

"Skimming" the Sales Tax
November 18, 2008
A new report from 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] [full report]

ONLINE ARCHIVE OF GOOD JOBS FIRST CONFERENCE NOW AVAILABLE
June 9, 2008
Reclaiming Economic Development III, the Good Jobs First national conference, was held on May 7 and 8 outside Baltimore. A online conference archive, containing the full agenda and links to many speaker presentations, is now available here. Video excerpts from the event are still in the works.

ANNOUNCING CLAWBACK.ORG - A BLOG OF GOOD JOBS FIRST
March 12, 2008
We are pleased to announce our new blog called CLAWBACK. We chose the name partly because clawbacks (steps taken by governments to recoup subsidies from companies that don't deliver on job promises) are one of our favorite accountability reforms. Yet we also like to think of ourselves as part of a movement that is "clawing back" in a broader sense: making economic development once again serve the common good rather than narrow private interests. CLAWBACK, which already has more than a dozen posts, is being written by the staff of Good Jobs First and our affiliates: Good Jobs New York, Good Jobs Illinois and the Corporate Research Project.

GJF article on "TIF, Greenfields and Sprawl"
February 4, 2008
Good Jobs First today released a new in-depth article about the nation's most controversial kind of economic development subsidy: tax increment financing. The article, entitled "TIF, Greenfields and Sprawl," has just been published in Planning and Environmental Law, a journal of the American Planning Association. The article 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.

States Graded on Transparency, Urged to Do More to Expand Web-based Disclosure
November 15, 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.
[Full report] [Press release] [Executive Summary]
[State appendices and other supplementary online material]

Wal-Mart Seeks to Reduce Tax Payments that Support Public Schools
October 10, 2007
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. That is the key finding of Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, a report released today by Good Jobs First.
[Full report] [Press release]
[Online appendices with lists of stores and distribution centers examined.]

Mall operator has received over $200 million in subsidies and tax savings
August 29, 2007
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. More details can be found in our press release or in the full text of the report, titled Growing at Whose Expense?

Eye on Subsidies
August 23, 2007
Arizona Curbs Phoenix-Area Retail Subsidies. Buffalo News Exposes Costly Niagara Electricity Giveaways. Google's N.C. Subsidies Challenged in Court. New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Subsidy Failing. Chicago Exchanges Merge, Announce Layoffs, Get Subsidies. Jet Set Subsidies for Honda Jet Engines. Jersey City NAACP Challenges Goldman Sachs Tax Break. Alabama Grants Another Mega-Subsidy. Atlanta-County Lawyers Vet, Profit from Bond Deals. Striking Kentucky Steelworkers Protest Subsidy Deal. Texas Property Tax Breaks Hurt Schools. Read more"Insider Baseball: How Current and Former Public Officials Pitched a Community Shutout for the New York Yankees"

July 20, 2007
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. The report -- available at www.goodjobsny.org -- reveals cost increases of nearly $100 million for a total taxpayer hit exceeding half a billion dollars.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Eye on Subsidies
June 14, 2007
Cabela's Caves on Nexus. Alabama "Wins" ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill. Subsidized Radio Shack Headquarters Laying Off, Subletting. Minnesota Governor Vetoes Tax Breaks to Thomson West and Mall of America. Show Business Subsidies in Louisiana and North Carolina. Piper Aircraft Co Threatens to Fly for Richer Territories. Kansas City's Subsidized Parking for the Feds. Wal-Mart Continues to Benefit from Subsidies. Read More

"Pay, or We (Might) Go: How Citigroup Plays the State and Cities"
June 12, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Introducing Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch
June 5, 2007
Wal-Mart Stores continues to benefit enormously from state and local government economic development subsidies, including 39 deals worth more than $200 million in just the past three years. This according to Good Jobs First, which has issued an update of our landmark 2004 report Shopping for Subsidies, which found more than $1 billion in subsidies for Wal-Mart facilities. Details of the 39 new deals, combined with data from the 2004 report, are available on a new searchable website called Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch.
Read more.

"Sprawling by the Lake: How IDA-Granted Property Tax Exemptions Undermine Older Parts of the Buffalo/Niagara Metro Area"
May 30, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Eye on Subsidies
April10, 2007
Mall of America seeks massive new subsidies. Court: New York State must disclose company-specific Empire Zone data. New Orleans: Big, Easy Giveaways. MSNBC episode prompts New Jersey reform debate while Cabela's Deal in Idaho sparks ethics debate. Granite City, IL proposes $70-100 million TIF for US Steel and Sun Coke as Mississippi provides $323.9 million in incentives for Toyota. Study: North Carolina may lose on Dell deal. Read More

"The Ideal Deal: How Local Governments Can Get More for Their Economic Development Dollar"
March 16, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]Eye on Subsidies

Report: Green Jobs are Not Always Good Jobs
Feburary 3, 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, a new report from Good Jobs First 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, entitled High Road or Low Road? Job Quality in the New Green Economy, was commissioned by Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and the Teamsters and Laborers unions. [Full report] [Press release]

Uncle Sam's Rusty Toolkit
November 20, 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 new report called Uncle Sam's Rusty Toolkit, which is being 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] [full report]
"Skimming" the Sales Tax
November 18, 2008
A new report from 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] [full report]

ONLINE ARCHIVE OF GOOD JOBS FIRST CONFERENCE NOW AVAILABLE
June 9, 2008
Reclaiming Economic Development III, the Good Jobs First national conference, was held on May 7 and 8 outside Baltimore. A online conference archive, containing the full agenda and links to many speaker presentations, is now available here. Video excerpts from the event are still in the works.

ANNOUNCING CLAWBACK.ORG - A BLOG OF GOOD JOBS FIRST
March 12, 2008
We are pleased to announce our new blog called CLAWBACK. We chose the name partly because clawbacks (steps taken by governments to recoup subsidies from companies that don't deliver on job promises) are one of our favorite accountability reforms. Yet we also like to think of ourselves as part of a movement that is "clawing back" in a broader sense: making economic development once again serve the common good rather than narrow private interests. CLAWBACK, which already has more than a dozen posts, is being written by the staff of Good Jobs First and our affiliates: Good Jobs New York, Good Jobs Illinois and the Corporate Research Project.

GJF article on "TIF, Greenfields and Sprawl"
February 4, 2008
Good Jobs First today released a new in-depth article about the nation's most controversial kind of economic development subsidy: tax increment financing. The article, entitled "TIF, Greenfields and Sprawl," has just been published in Planning and Environmental Law, a journal of the American Planning Association. The article 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.
States Graded on Transparency, Urged to Do More to Expand Web-based Disclosure
November 15, 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.
[Full report] [Press release] [Executive Summary]
[State appendices and other supplementary online material]
Wal-Mart Seeks to Reduce Tax Payments that Support Public Schools
October 10, 2007
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. That is the key finding of Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, a report released today by Good Jobs First.
[Full report] [Press release]
[Online appendices with lists of stores and distribution centers examined.]

Mall operator has received over $200 million in subsidies and tax savings
August 29, 2007
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. More details can be found in our press release or in the full text of the report, titled Growing at Whose Expense?

Eye on Subsidies
August 23, 2007
Arizona Curbs Phoenix-Area Retail Subsidies. Buffalo News Exposes Costly Niagara Electricity Giveaways. Google's N.C. Subsidies Challenged in Court. New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Subsidy Failing. Chicago Exchanges Merge, Announce Layoffs, Get Subsidies. Jet Set Subsidies for Honda Jet Engines. Jersey City NAACP Challenges Goldman Sachs Tax Break. Alabama Grants Another Mega-Subsidy. Atlanta-County Lawyers Vet, Profit from Bond Deals. Striking Kentucky Steelworkers Protest Subsidy Deal. Texas Property Tax Breaks Hurt Schools. Read more"Insider Baseball: How Current and Former Public Officials Pitched a Community Shutout for the New York Yankees"

July 20, 2007
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. The report -- available at www.goodjobsny.org -- reveals cost increases of nearly $100 million for a total taxpayer hit exceeding half a billion dollars.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Eye on Subsidies
June 14, 2007
Cabela's Caves on Nexus. Alabama "Wins" ThyssenKrupp Steel Mill. Subsidized Radio Shack Headquarters Laying Off, Subletting. Minnesota Governor Vetoes Tax Breaks to Thomson West and Mall of America. Show Business Subsidies in Louisiana and North Carolina. Piper Aircraft Co Threatens to Fly for Richer Territories. Kansas City's Subsidized Parking for the Feds. Wal-Mart Continues to Benefit from Subsidies. Read More

"Pay, or We (Might) Go: How Citigroup Plays the State and Cities"
June 12, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Introducing Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch
June 5, 2007
Wal-Mart Stores continues to benefit enormously from state and local government economic development subsidies, including 39 deals worth more than $200 million in just the past three years. This according to Good Jobs First, which has issued an update of our landmark 2004 report Shopping for Subsidies, which found more than $1 billion in subsidies for Wal-Mart facilities. Details of the 39 new deals, combined with data from the 2004 report, are available on a new searchable website called Wal-Mart Subsidy Watch.
Read more.

"Sprawling by the Lake: How IDA-Granted Property Tax Exemptions Undermine Older Parts of the Buffalo/Niagara Metro Area"
May 30, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Eye on Subsidies
April10, 2007
Mall of America seeks massive new subsidies. Court: New York State must disclose company-specific Empire Zone data. New Orleans: Big, Easy Giveaways. MSNBC episode prompts New Jersey reform debate while Cabela's Deal in Idaho sparks ethics debate. Granite City, IL proposes $70-100 million TIF for US Steel and Sun Coke as Mississippi provides $323.9 million in incentives for Toyota. Study: North Carolina may lose on Dell deal. Read More

"The Ideal Deal: How Local Governments Can Get More for Their Economic Development Dollar"
March 16, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]Eye on Subsidies

February 22, 2007
Oodles for Google in North Carolina. Thomson Corp. cashing in on dubious bidding war. San Antonio's CIED fund grows giant deal for Microsoft. New Jersey Assembly approves tax breaks to polluter. Virginia city must repay state incentives after a company fails. Louisiana and Alabama up the ante to win German steel mill; Arkansas out of the running. Philanthropy vs. Justice: Nike avoids taxes, contributes to Oregon schools. Read more

Gold Collar: How State Job Subsidies in the Chicago Region Favor Affluent Suburbs
January 17, 2007
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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Eye on Subsidies
January 9, 2007
Google searches for subsidies in the Carolinas while other Southern states ante up for a German steel mill. Closing of subsidized vacuum cleaner plant angers a Mississippi community. TIF roundup. Pennsylvania goes all out for Westinghouse Electric. Michigan city backs off threat to rescind tax breaks for Ford-Mazda alliance. Wisconsin tax-credit package for Harley upped after workers reject concessions.
Read more.

The Thin Cities: How Subsidized Job Piracy Deepens Inequality in the Twin Cities Metro Area
December 7th, 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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

The Geography of Incentives: Economic Development and Land Use in Michigan
December 6th, 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.
[ Press Release ] [ Report ]

Subsidies in the News
November 21, 2006
Highlights: Seattle nixes stadium giveaways. Omaha voters keep TIF real. Target wants bigger subsidy for Twin Cities project. La-Z-Boy deal generates piracy charges in North Carolina, while same town may be unnecessarily subsidizing a Polo.com facility. Financial giants test New York Mayor Bloomberg's resolve on giveaways. Georgia gives $35 million subsidy package for $30 million ADP facility. Biofuel subsidies already at least $5 billion a year.
Read more.

Subsidies in the News
October 18, 2006
Highlights: Subsidies play a role in Goodyear strike. Town battles agency over tax breaks for upstate New York power plant. Subsidies for an airline "samurai" in Ohio. Court rejects challenge to Minnesota JOBZ program. Questions raised about Kentucky study of subsidy programs. IKEA plans U.S. manufacturing operation--with help from taxpayers. ConAgra may face clawback in Ohio. Technology tax credits failing to expand jobs in Hawaii. Read more.

Subsidies in the News
September 22, 2006
Highlights: Cabela's keeps on fishing for public funds. US Airways sets up three-city competition for operations center. Kentucky is cooking up a subsidy feast for Ford Motor. Muncie is divided over continuation of abatement for BorgWarner. Metlife is moving back to Manhattan. Empire Zone abuses assailed in New York. Payroll giant ADP acquires tax avoidance firm Mintax. Read more.

Thank a Teacher, Improve Your "Business Climate"!
August 28, 2006
A tiny grandmother from Toledo named Charlotte Cuno stood on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court last March, enraged by questions the justices had just asked her lawyer. Read More

Subsidies in the News
August 16, 2006
Highlights: Target Corp. accused of "all take and no give." Taking on TIF in the Twin Cities. North Carolina town promised Novartis more than it could afford. Fidelity Investments gets $69 million package for Research Triangle expansion. Subsidies as "economic hash" in Wisconsin. Michigan aid seeks to preserve jobs at Ford Motor. Subsidizing a nuke in Maryland. Read more.

Subsidies in the News
July 28, 2006
Highlights: United Airlines gets subsidies for a short hop. Google search ends with Michigan tax break. Chinese auto transplant joins U.S. subsidy game. Chris-Craft gets the royal treatment in North Carolina . North Carolina wins vaccine plant despite being outbid by Georgia . Paying to keep Office Depot "within its clutches." Oil refiners enjoy local as well as federal largesse. AAA tows operations across state lines to win subsidies. Read more.

Subsidies in the News
July 7, 2006
Highlights: New York follows through on $1.2 billion subsidy for AMD chip fab. Indiana wins competition for Honda plant. Target Corp. changes job-creation targets for mixed-use project outside Minneapolis. Bidding war heats up for next-generation power plant. West Virginia tax credit data now available. Dueling reports on California's enterprise zone program. BearingPoint gets subsidy to move from one part of Manhattan to another. New Mexico pays to go Hollywood. Read more.

Smart Growth, Housing and Transit Advocates Hail New Law Promoting
"Location Efficient" Job Subsidies
June 30, 2006
Several Chicago-based organizations hailed Governor Blagojevich's signing today of the Business Location Efficiency Incentive Act (SB 2885). The new law makes Illinois the first state to intentionally use economic development subsidies to link jobs with public transit and/or affordable housing.Read More

Subsidies in the News June 13, 2006
Highlights: $1B for a chip plant in New York ? Bristol-Myers Squibb opts for Massachusetts over a larger subsidy offer from New York . Treasury Department chooses 63 financial institutions for latest round of New Markets Tax Credits. Subsidies fail to save a Delta Air Lines call center in Florida . Illinois joins the competition for a new Honda assembly plant. Florida is preparing another big subsidy package for a biotech research institute. Read more.

Subsidies in the News
May 25, 2006
The Supreme Court drops the other shoe on Cuno, and the suit against Dell subsidies in North Carolina is thrown out. * Honda sets off a subsidy scramble in the Midwest, but not in Ontario .
* Whirlpool turns down new subsidies to keep open a Maytag plant in Iowa but will have to repay old subsidies for one in Illinois . * UPS rewarded with subsidies for a $1 billion expansion in Louisville . * United Airlines may be pitting Colorado against Illinois. * Job quality standards are raised for Idaho training subsidies. * Bridgestone takes subsidies from North Carolina after turning them down in Oklahoma . * Tax credit scammers plead guilty in Missouri . Read more.

Supremes Rule Narrowly on Cuno

May 16th, 2006

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled 9-0 that the taxpayer plaintiffs in Cuno v. DaimlerChrysler did not have standing - or the right to sue - in federal court. (The plaintiffs had not sued in federal court to begin with; it was the defendants who insisted on taking the case there.) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had ruled in 2004 that an investment tax credit given to DaimlerChrylser by the state of Ohio violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, the Supreme Court did not rule yesterday on the Commerce Clause issue. The case now goes back to Ohio state court, where standing rules are more permissive. The plaintiffs have vowed to persevere on both state claims and on the federal Commerce Clause theory. Read more

Subsidies in the News
May 8, 2006

In this inaugural edition of a new feature of the GJF website, we look at the following stories: Layoffs at Vought Aircraft, which got subsidies to create jobs, have become a hot political issue in the governor's race in Texas. The Oklahoma state legislature, which in 2004 passed a bill specifically designed to let Bridgestone-Firestone qualify for tax credits linked to new investment, is frustrated that the tire company is now considering job reductions instead. Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has announced that he will release information on subsidy deals offered to companies to relocate in the state, but the policy has some loopholes. A state judge in North Carolina is expected to issue a ruling this week on whether a lawsuit challenging more than $270 million in subsidies to Dell Inc. can proceed. Officials in Texas are celebrating the decision of South Korea's Samsung Electronics to locate a new chip plant costing up to $4 billion in Austin--a move that involved turning down a much larger subsidy package from New York. Read more

GO Zone Bonds as an Opportunity to Promote Social Justice in Katrina Reconstruction
April 5, 2006
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. Press release. Report.

Cabela's/Bass Pro/Gander Mtn. Subsidy Spat!
March 28, 2006
A national brawl has broken out over subsidies to big-box retail. Except this time it's not anti-sprawl activists protesting Wal-Mart. Instead, it's the #3 outdoor sporting goods retailer ratting on #1 and #2. More

Making The Connection: Transit-Oriented Development and Jobs
March 16, 2006
Good Jobs First today issued a national study honoring 25 exemplary transit-oriented development (TOD) projects which provide increased transit access, good jobs, and affordable housing to low and moderate-income people, including many who cannot afford to own a car. More

Biased Transportation Boards
March 10, 2006
Ever wonder why metro transportation budgets favor highways over transit even though most people live in the core cities and older suburbs? A new report from the Brookings Institution suggests one reason: the boards that control transportation monies are biased in their composition.More

Supremes Hear Cuno case

by Greg LeRoy
March 2, 2006

I and several colleagues Wednesday morning witnessed the Supreme Court arguments in

DaimlerChrysler v Cuno, the landmark economic development investment tax credit (ITC) case from Toledo, Ohio. The case could invalidate one or more kinds of tax breaks states grant companies; the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that a huge ITC given by the state to the company violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. More.

Loot, Loot, Loot for the Home Team
February 7, 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. More

Subsidy Disclosure in Illinois
February 6, 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. More

Nissan's Tennessee Waltz
January 30, 2006
Politicians in Tennessee have been vigorously patting themselves on the back since Nissan announced in November that it would move it North American headquarters from southern California to a site outside Nashville in Williamson County. Public officials are predicting an economic boom for the area and are raising hopes that the state will become a major center for the automobile industry. Those results may or may not be realized, but what's clear is that the way Nissan ended up in middle Tennessee is a prime example of wrong-headed economic development policy. [FULL TEXT]

Cuno Case Could Redefine How States Subsidize Economic Development
November 2005
A legal case now pending before the nation's highest court could force the states to radically overhaul--and cut back--their economic development subsidy programs. The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear the case of Daimler Chrysler v Cuno; arguments will be heard in February or March with a decision expected in May or June. If the Supremes uphold a lower court ruling, many job subsidies will be invalidated. In the world of economic development, where states and cities spend at least $50 billion a year, such a ruling would have a far greater impact than last spring's Kelo decision upholding local government use of eminent domain in New London, Connecticut. [FULLTEXT]