“The company’s tax savings would cover the salaries for about 174 average middle school teachers earning $62,000 year, or 168 full-time firefighters earning $64,000. It would pay for about half of the salaries budgeted this year in the St. Louis County Library district,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reporter Kelsey Landis wrote.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Here’s how much Boeing would save on taxes if St. Louis County approves incentives
St. Louis, Missouri, residents would miss out on at least $110 million if aerospace giant Boeing receives a 10-year tax break local officials are considering.
What could that money pay for instead?
Good Jobs First Executive Director Greg LeRoy told the Post-Dispatch the company won’t be paying taxes but it will still be adding costs.
“Schools will have to hire more teachers. More lanes will have to be widened. Police will have to respond to more 911 calls. There will be more trash to be collected,” LeRoy said. “Nothing’s free about that, and if Boeing isn’t paying its share of induced costs, residents shouldn’t get stuck with the bill.”
As our Subsidy Tracker has documented, Boeing has received nearly $75 billion in economic development subsidies. Boeing used some of the tax dollars to simply move jobs from Washington state to the South, where wages are lower and working conditions worse.
Read the full story at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
