I wrote a column this week about Mayor Mark Stodola’s explanation of the need for a $40 million economic development slush fund in the city’s $500 million sales tax increase proposal.
It would appear he and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, the driving force for this money, need to get their talking points together. Stodola was hazy on details, but said the Little Rock Port and some other areas needed $25 million for expansion. He also mentioned a need for money to put into the research development project touted by UAMS and UALR.
I’ve been supplied the Chamber of Commerce’s own talking points. Full copy on jump, but it says the tax would provide $23 million for the research park (direct taxpayer subsidy of private enterprise), $10 million for the port and $7 million for infrastructure work for new jobs. The talking points are silent on accountability, not a strong suit of the chamber. They are silent, too, about the types of jobs and industries acceptable to the chamber. Environmental commitments? Workplace quality commitments?
If you should get this spiel, I’d encourage you to ask for specifics on this job creation and private business investment numbers. I’ve found exaggerations and oversights in the so-called “reports” the Chamber makes on these topics to the city of Little Rock. These reports are in return for the $200,000 subsidy taxpayers give to people who work against universal health care, worker bargaining, decent workers comp programs and the public schools. I’d also like an accounting of jobs lost at companies given past incentives and taxpayer handouts and whether anybody ever tried to get a nickel back.
The worst thing about the talking points is that they openly encourage a destructive arms race. The chambers want sales taxes to promote economic development so they need not raise money from their members. A number of cities and counties have rolled right over. The LR Chamber is hungry for a similar tax here. We have a well-funded state agency that is supposed to oversee state development efforts fairly. It is lunacy for cities and counties in Arkansas, a poor state, to be taxing poor people’s groceries to pay industrial blackmail. There hasn’t been a serious study yet that shows corporate welfare is a serious factor in industrial location. The important things are location, raw materials, education of workforce, quality of life — not bribery.
I simply don’t trust people who believe this with $40 million.
Meanwhile, mayor and chamber, get your stories straight.