Commentary: Ending corporate welfare could help with budget crisisBy Mitchell Schnurman | The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Posted on Monday, June 7, 2010
If budget problems get bad enough and last long enough, maybe politicians will do something revolutionary: Stop giving taxpayer money to private companies.
Ending corporate welfare wouldn't close the funding gap for most cities, but it would represent progress — for both public finances and tax policy. Big business throws so much weight around city halls in North Texas that only a Great Reset could reverse things.
To get an idea of the bubble in government giveaways, consider the sweetheart deal that Euless created for Redi-Mix Concrete.
The city built a regional headquarters on North Main Street, spending $4.9 million for a 27,551-square-foot building on 2.2 acres. Redi-Mix occupied the space at the beginning of the year, and it pays zero rent, as long as it generates a certain level of sales tax.
It also gets a rebate for one-quarter of the local sales tax it collects -- for concrete delivered throughout the region, not just in Euless. In 2008, Euless returned $567,000 to Redi-Mix under this agreement, but that amount fell by more than half after the recession stalled the construction industry last year.