Protecting Public Education from
Tax Giveaways to
Corporations
by Ralph Nader
Dissident Voice
January 25, 2003
The deepening
federal and state budgets are causing cuts that affect the most defenseless and
least powerful of Americans. That, of course is the direct consequence of
plutocracy -- rule by the wealthy. Their ownership and control of the nation's
private assets is growing while the poor and middle class are losing. The
latest figures show wealth inequality is growing in America and is the worst in
the western world.
If you've been reading
the newspapers, you can see that the budget cuts are reducing health,
education, housing, and many critical services for children. Safety programs
are losing out. However, prisons are doing well, along with the welfare
programs for the corporations.
Our politicians,
with few exceptions, are not demanding that the cuts start FIRST with the
corporate welfare programs and corporate tax escapes costing the country
hundreds of billions of dollars yearly.
California is
one -- albeit big -- example. Facing a deficit of over $25 billion this year,
the state and its cities are being squeezed. Oakland and Alameda County are
paying Al Davis' Oakland Raiders NFL football franchise $25 million a year to
service bonds issued to renovate the stadium and lure the Raiders from Los
Angeles.
Oakland pays the
$12.5 million of this sum. By contrast, the annual budget of the city's library
system is about this dollar amount and is facing sharp cuts. The Raiders only
play 10 games a year there (including exhibitions) which hardly produce many
jobs. To make matters worse, Al Davis is also suing Oakland and the County for
$1.1 billion claiming they promised to guarantee a full stadium for every game.
Imperiously, Davis orders television blackouts when the game is not sold out 72
hours before kickoff -- an insensitive way to treat the taxpayers.
Corporate
draining of the defenseless can be very direct. Pressuring or buying local
officials to give tax abatements and other giveaways, these companies don't
even care when the losers are public school children. In a brand new report
prepared by "Good Jobs First" -- a non-profit group, called
"Protecting Public Education from Tax Giveaways to Corporations,"
data from the 50 states showed that letting companies off the property tax hook
costs the schools who rely on that revenue much money. One hundred million
dollars in Ohio alone!
The same game of
tax escape is played with ruthless precision in all the states. Companies
dangle office buildings, hotels, retail chain stores or factories before state
development agencies and ask for bids. The bids are a race to the bottom for
exempting or abating these companies from paying their fair share to support
the communities' services as do workers, homeowners, small businesses and others.
These companies
are shameless freeloaders, not free enterprisers. They say they want good
schools for their labor force and a good community for their employees, but
they participate in depleting school budgets through their avaricious demands
for more corporate welfare.
In conjunction
with the National Education Association, Greg LeRoy, director of Good Jobs
First, and author of the report, made three recommendations. First, improve
disclosure of subsidies and enforce "clawback" provisions that require
returning the subsidies given to developers "who have failed to meet their
promises on jobs, wages, or capital investment."
Second, give
school boards a formal say, with veto power, over subsidy decision-making.
Third, state
governments should "prohibit the abatement or diversion of the school
portion of property taxes." Today, only two states shield school funding
from these subsidies.
Only two states
enable school boards of elected members adequate participation in decisions
about tax abatements and the diversion of tax increment financing.
Call or write
Greg LeRoy (1311 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005) to find out where the
corporate freeloaders are in your area so you can let them know that you know
what they have gotten away with. This knowledge has many uses, including
charity drives when these companies are asked to give to local charitable
causes.
Ralph Nader is
America’s leading consumer advocate. He is the founder of numerous public
interest groups including Public Citizen, and has twice run for President as a Green Party candidate. His latest book is Crashing the Party: How to Tell
the Truth and Still Run for President (St. Martin’s Press, 2002)