The Great American Jobs Scam:Corporate Tax Dodging And The Myth Of Job Creation

Description

What do Wal-Mart, Dell, Fidelity Investments, Boeing, and Cabela’s have in common? They’re all part of a $50 billion a year scam in which—in the name of "job creation"—corporations play states and cities against each other to win hefty taxpayer subsidies that routinely exceed $100,000 per job. But do they provide more jobs, higher wages, or improved living standards in exchange? Greg LeRoy exposes these deals for what they are—no-strings-attached free rides for corporations that rarely create any new jobs. In fact, after securing these packages, many companies lay people off, pay poverty wages, or even relocate to other states.

This is the Great American Jobs Scam: a costly bait-and-switch that swindles communities in more ways than one. They lose jobs—or gain jobs so low-paying they do nothing to help the community—and they lose revenue through massive corporate tax breaks. That means fewer resources for maintaining schools, public services, and infrastructure.

LeRoy exposes corporations' careful orchestration of this scam, dissects government and corporate mumbo-jumbo with plain talk, and offers commonsense reforms that will give taxpayers powerful new tools to protect our communities.

About the Author

Greg LeRoy has been dubbed “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies” and “God’s witness to corporate welfare.” For more than 20 years, mostly from Chicago, he has been writing, consulting, and training for unions, community groups, environmental and smart growth advocates, labor-management committees, professional associations of development officials, elected officials, journalists, and state and local government agencies. His 1994 book, No More Candy Store: States and Cities Making Job Subsidies Accountable, was the first compilation of economic development safeguards such as clawbacks and job quality standards. Upon winning the Stern Family Fund’s 1998 Public Interest Pioneer Award, he founded Good Jobs First (http://www.goodjobsfirst.org). Based in Washington, DC, Good Jobs First promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development and smart growth for working families. It also includes Good Jobs New York, the Corporate Research Project, and Good Jobs Illinois. Greg holds degrees in journalism and U.S. history.