SAY NO TO OUTDOORS RETAIL SUBSIDIES

Providing tax breaks and other kinds of subsidies to attract or retain businesses has become increasingly common. Businesses promise communities new jobs, tax revenues, and better economies in exchange for billions of taxpayer dollars. If communities don’t agree with underwriting their operations, the businesses threaten to skip town, if they are already there, or to settle in the town next door. Without accountability, companies use taxpayer subsidies to fatten profits instead of investing it into the workers, business, or local community.

The American public has become increasingly outraged at the abuse of taxpayer-backed subsidies. Taxpayer’s hate to hear that their tax money is going to underwrite the profits of a large corporation. For example, Frank Luntz, a pollster who works for the Republican Party leadership, says that “corporate welfare” is ranked third on a list of “things people flip out on.” The only two that come in ahead of “corporate welfare” are, one “foreign aid” and two “waste, fraud and abuse.”