Robbing Rose's Flowers to pay Wal-Mart

Willie Pelote from AFSCME has an excellent column in the California Progress Report about how "economic" incentive programs at the state and local level subsidize mega corporations like Wal-Mart, which in turn drive mom-and-pop stores -- like the one owned by Irene Gonzalez's foster parents -- out of business.

Small, local businesses create two-thirds of the jobs in the United States and generate an appropriate tax base, upon which to build a community supported by a network of vital public services and structures.

However, tax policies and land use and zoning rules at the municipal and state level have generally focused on doling out large tax breaks, credits, and subsidies worth billions to big businesses at the expense of local merchants.

“Big businesses will usually ask for a variety of tax concessions from local and state governments as a condition for setting up shop somewhere: things like free land or to keep a percentage of their sales taxes,” said Murtaza Baxamusa, research and policy director at the Center on Policy Initiatives. “This creates an uneven playing field. When politicians allow our tax dollars to finance the operations of these large companies, what happens is that mom and pop stores like Rose’s Flowers are driven out of business, shrinking the overall tax base.”

These programs have devastated rural communities, Irene says.

“I remember how people used to go out with their kids on Sundays and walk around town window shopping or taking in the sights,” said Gonzalez. “Now weekends in places like Visalia and Merced mean empty streets and shuttered storefronts. We really need to change our tax policies, because they have decimated mom and pop shops throughout the state. Here in the Central Valley it’s especially important, because there is no local economy to speak of, and people have no real prospects or jobs.”