Bill would allow tax breaks for minimum wage jobs

[NoPasaran]

Two bills are moving through the Legislature that would boost school districts' already considerable power in economic development. At the same time, the bills would probably cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost tax revenue that would otherwise help pay for public schools. School districts became serious players in economic development in 2001, when the Legislature offered them an unbeatable deal: The state would reimburse districts for any revenue they lost granting tax breaks.

That legislation allows every school district in Texas to grant tax breaks for as long as 10 years to companies that bring in new jobs.

But companies have to pay better-than-average salaries, pay most of employees' health care premiums and put jobs in economically distressed areas.

Those standards would all but disappear under bills sponsored by Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, and Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/04/10schooltax.html

The National Laboratory for Bad Government seems to be running at full speed.

[carnie_sf]

1. Well duh

Tax breaks are only for those that don't need them.

[sonias]

2. Just more corporate welfare for Walmart

Not only do these businesses get these huge tax breaks that the State helps subsidize, salaries are brought down by the Walmart effect. Lets keep the poor, poor. That way they're too busy making a living to get involved in government.

What really bugs me is that there is no reporting on the supposed monitoring for these "new jobs". What accountability? All the businesses have to do is say they are going to create jobs. Who actually proves that they do. We just trust the business to turn in a report that says they have new hires. They get to count people they would have laid off as "new hires" in cases. It's all a shell game being played with our tax dollars.

Sonia