NYT: Big Chains Benefit From City Tax Incentives but Don’t Create Jobs, a Report Says

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/nyregion/29tax.html?_r=2&sq=+%22property%20tax%22&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

May 29, 2008
Big Chains Benefit From City Tax Incentives but Don’t Create Jobs, a Report Says
By PATRICK McGEEHAN

In 1976, when New York was fighting to stem an exodus of high-paying jobs to the suburbs and beyond, the city created a program of property tax breaks aimed at retaining industrial companies and other employers.

But in the last three decades, as the city’s economy has evolved, those incentives have been put to some very different uses. According to a report to be released on Thursday by Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, those tax breaks are going to fast-food restaurants, gas stations and national chain stores.

In many cases, those businesses have not used the incentives to create jobs, but have simply displaced independent enterprises, Mr. Stringer said. What’s more, he said, many of them are “at odds” with the Bloomberg administration’s public health initiatives.

Several Burger King and McDonald’s restaurants in Upper Manhattan receive the breaks, as does the giant Toys “R” Us store in Times Square, said Mr. Stringer, who is calling for state lawmakers to revamp the program.

The subsidies were granted through the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, which is now the city’s second-largest property tax expenditure, according to Mr. Stringer’s report. The $409.5 million dedicated to the program last year exceeded the $390 million expenditure for the New York City Housing Authority properties, the report states.

About 40 percent of that total goes to businesses in Manhattan, with developers of office buildings and retail centers like Chelsea Market receiving the largest benefits, Mr. Stringer’s office said.

FULL story at link.