6.12. SR 10-18-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapter 10 Page 21 of25 determine those costs should be required); or (4) if a required "small business impact report" showed existing small businesses would be . injured significantly. Ideas for titles such as Small Business Survival Act; Retail Overdevelopment Act; Tax Financing Restraint Act (or any combination of these). Further since the Internal Revenue Code is filled with provisions which aid, help or restrict the activities of certain industries, it is a natural place to consider curtailing the redevelopment agency, developers and "Big Box" abuses. The idea might be to impose an excise or penalty tax on any state or local tax giveaways these "Big Boxes" wangle out of state and local government. The legislation possibly could apply only to retailers with an income over x billion dollars or a minimum of square foot. Our logic is this: The federal agencies and Congress are the only people who can stop the states and cities from cannibalizing each other as each gives away more and more in the form oftax breaks to win these mega-retail discount stores, only to rob their neighboring town or state of tax revenues (anrljobs) from the existing retailers. . Only states or the federal government can step in to stop the current warfare; warfare whiGIl makes 10cal governments more dependent on Washington D.C. No new jobs are created, and because the mega-retail chains pay their employees less and kill jobs at other retailers, they cause the federal. government to receive less in income taxes. This should certainly interest Congress and the U.S. . Treasury Department. It is als0 obvious that there are incidental costs to the fedeial government for "Big Box" store. development. They tend to expand near interstate highways, adding additional traffic V'lhich certainly costs the federal government more. The mega-retail discount chains generally don't provide health insurance to employees, adding these people to the governments' burden. These chains are quite profitable, so an excise tax would not put them out of business. Further, the environmentalists and preservationists should see the need to reduce the tax incentives for "Big Box" deveiopment. Finally, those in favor of reducing the federal deficit should be eager to embrace new sources of revenue. Greg LeRoy, previously cited in Chapter VII, made it very clear that the state and federal governments have been wasting large sums on "corporate welfare" for enormously powerful and rich retail corporations. Whether it is a tax abatement or the right to retain sales tax revenues to pay for capital outlay or debt service; these are funds, which based upon earlier objectives, should have been applied in great part to rehabilitation of the "Main Streets" of the United States. Further, as Greg LeRoy pointed out, the grants help build structures which are often abandoned while the companies receiving the financial assistance move elsewhere. T-,e Need to Combat Urban Sprawl (The Work of the National Trust for Historic Preservation) . It is clear that the cities and towns of America, are gradually succumbing to urban sprawl. Moreover http://www.shilsreport.orglchap10.html 10/6/99