Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue said this week that incumbent Governor Brian Kemp provided state-backed financial incentives to an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer tied to George Soros. Bloomberg reported this week that Soros does invest in the EV company Rivian.
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Georgia officials recently announced that the company Rivian will construct a $5 billion Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in Morgan and Walton counties, but no one knows how much money the company took in government incentives. This, according to a statement that the Washington, D.C.-based Good Jobs First issued this month. According to its website, Good Jobs First is a policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development.
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A Washington, D.C.-based group said in a new report that Georgia is one of only six states that do a good job disclosing how they spend COVID-19 relief money. Members of this organization, Good Jobs First, in a report they released Monday, ranked how states spend federal CARES Act money.
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The Washington, D.C.-based Good Jobs First has released a list of healthcare providers nationwide who have accepted CARES Act money, and Tennessee entities are among them.
Good Jobs First officials announced the news in a press release on their website.
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Tennessee lost more than $159 million in revenue to tax abatement programs in 2018.
The state also lost $226 million to these programs in 2017.
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Tennessee officials reportedly made concessions to Volkswagen to get the company to construct a new electric vehicle plant in Chattanooga, according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press. But, as the paper went on to say, state residents may not yet see a list of those concessions, which are apparently financial. For that, they will have to wait until new Republican Gov. Bill Lee presents his first proposed state budget in March, according to the paper. Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe told the paper Lee will deliver that proposed budget March 4. “Rolfe’s comments came following his budget presentation to Lee in which he asked for a $126.2 million increase in departmental spending for the 2019-2020 budget, which would take effect July 1,” according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press. “The VW project wasn’t included. The commissioner said the amount was determined as part of the negotiations with the German auto manufacturer.” Rolfe told the paper that Volkswagen officials “wanted a definitive number before they made a commitment to expand in Tennessee.” “We are aware they (Volkswagen) had conversations with a couple of other states.” Rolfe told The Chattanooga Times Free Press. As The Tennessee Star reported, last…
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Government officials are “whipsawed” into handing out corporate welfare and other tax incentives to companies like Amazon, as they did this month in Tennessee, among other places, according to the head of a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit. This is especially true as government officials try to entice a company to come to their state when they know those company officials have other options. Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First (pictured, above), said as much in an op-ed this week in The New York Daily News. According to its website, Good Jobs First is a policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development. “In game theory, public officials are in the ‘prisoners’ dilemma.’ They aren’t told who they are competing against, and if they find out, they know they must not communicate with their peers. Their job is to supply data — and the biggest possible subsidy package — and hope for the best. They may intensely dislike this game’s rules, but know they must conform, lest they be blacklisted by site consultants shopping the next deal,” LeRoy wrote. “When a press release is issued, giving a politician a powerful re-election gift, the spin emphasizes the…
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The state of Tennessee has thus far given Volkswagen $818.8 million in corporate subsidies, going back several years. Nissan, meanwhile, got $536.7 million. DowDuPont received $486.7 million in subsidies. These are among the latest updates from Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based policy resource center that monitors corporate subsidies nationwide. The group runs a national database of state, local and federal economic development incentive awards. For Tennessee, the organization also called out Electrolux, Wacker Chemie, HCA Holdings, Hankook Tire, Dell Technologies, TRT Holdings, and Eastman Chemical for taking state subsidies ranging from $120 million to $232 million. Tennessee was one of several states getting the fine-tooth comb treatment. “In this round, we added records from 61 state and local programs from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Utah,” Good Jobs First said in a press release. The Good Jobs First update included seven new megadeals. “Some are for well-known deals such as the $900 million award for Toyota- Mazda in Alabama, but others cover less well-known deals such as the $618 million from Michigan to Bedrock Detroit for an urban redevelopment project in the city ($256.3 million of that will…
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A federal appeals court just ruled that states that hand out TV and film credits — as Tennessee does — can prosecute people who lie or mislead to get those corporate welfare benefits. Tennessee gave out millions of dollars in incentives to the fictionalized TV drama “Nashville” and more than $300,000 in incentives to the Robin Williams film “Boulevard.” That movie, filmed in Nashville in 2013, was about a man who starts a relationship with a male prostitute. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled film and TV tax credits are property and thus subject to federal mail and wire fraud laws. That means states can better monitor fraud involving TV and film tax credits. The case, United States vs. Hoffman, involved film and TV tax credits in Louisiana. The court ruled “the fraudulent issuance of those credits would deplete the state treasury, meaning Louisiana had a property interest in the tax credits and could prosecute for fraud in relation thereto,” according to Bloomberg. Members of the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a Nashville-based free market think tank, have spoken out against those tax credits for years. Beacon spokesman Mark Cunningham told The Tennessee Star…
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