SAY NO TO OUTDOORS RETAIL SUBSIDIES

MILWAUKEE MAGAZINE
October 4, 2005
WASHINGTON COUNTY GETS WACKY
Murphy’s Law Letters
 
Those wacky folks on the Washington County board have come up with a new and hilarious way to give away tax money. They are handing $4.5 million to Cabela’s Inc. to entice the company to build an outdoor goods mega-store. This is on top of the $5.25 million the State of Wisconsin will spend on highway improvements and infrastructure. Why is this so silly? Let me count the ways. First, Cabela’s is getting a primo location, at the junction of Highways 45 and 41, which will give it access to a mother lode of customers in outdoorsy Wisconsin, where 700,000 people have licenses to hunt and 850,000 people have fishing licenses. Why do they need a subsidy to cash in on this huge market? Second, Gander Mountain, a competitor of Cabela’s, is considering locating just up the highway. But the company isn’t asking for a subsidy. Why help one retailer over another? Third, Cabela’s has gone across the country demanding such handouts. Tax subsidies are critical to its expansion plans, one of its annual reports noted, “because they will allow us to recapture a portion of the costs involved with opening a new store.” Why encourage this sort of civic blackmail? Fourth, the claims for tourism are exaggerated. Supporters say the store will attract out-of-state customers. The only problem with this theory is that every state is getting a Cabela’s. The company already has a store in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, one in Michigan, two stores in the Twin Cities area and one in northern Minnesota. Meanwhile, it has purchased land for a store in northwestern Indiana and is negotiating for a handout to build a store in the Chicago suburbs. That leaves a possible influx of a few Iowans – those who don’t go to Illinois, Minnesota or the smaller store in Prairie du Chien. Seems a high price to pay for the privilege. Fifth, the economic impact is questionable. How many family-supporting jobs are ever generated by a new retail store? The real benefit, in terms of good-paying jobs, will occur in Cabela’s headquarters in Nebraska, which will increase its payroll by $3 million if the Washington County store is built, the company told the Omaha World-Herald. Sixth, the legal pretext for $4 million of the handout is absurd. Washington County is actually portraying this as an investment in a museum-quality display of taxidermy. Retired West Bend businessman Doug Ziegler is suing the county, arguing that the animal displays do not constitute an educational or cultural contribution, as the county board claims. On the contrary, these stuffed animals are something Cabela’s features to draw customers to its store, the same way a casino books top-name entertainers to bring more people to the slot machines. Cabela’s is a commercial enterprise, not a museum, and any government representative who can’t tell the difference needs a basic course in civics.