2019 GASB-77 Update on the Largest American Cities

Updated 01/21/2020

Statement No. 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures (GASB 77) set forth by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) requires compliant public budgets to report how much revenue the government body loses yearly to economic development tax abatement programs. Good Jobs First tracks these disclosures as part of its mission to promote transparency and accountability.

Of the 100 largest U.S. cities, 42 have published their Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for FY 2019 (as of January 17, 2020). 28 of them complied with GASB Statement No. 77 and disclosed $4.4 billion in foregone tax revenue. See the chart below to see the cost of economic development incentives for each of these cities over the past three years. 22 out of the 28 cities witnessed abated more taxes in 2019 than 2017. Click on the link below to download the excel spreadsheet, which contains the details about the 130 tax abatement programs reported in FY 2019. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the 13 cities that did not provide GASB 77 information in FY 2019. Click here for 2018 numbers for all 100 cities.

Note: GASB 77 disclosure reflects only the revenue loss for the reporting jurisdiction. The revenue loss may be self-incurred or resulted from abatements entered into by other governments. Therefore, the numbers below are the cities’ portion of taxes abated and do not include revenue lost by counties and school districts.

Download the excel spreadsheet to see program details (xlsx, 30 KB)