Five Subsidy Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

1. Reinvent Albany and six watchdog groups sent a letter urging the Governor to halt her Penn Station revamp until the project’s impact on NYC tax revenue can be fully assessed. Senators Krueger and Hoylman and the Daily News have also called for a pause on the project, which would allow Vornado to build 10 tax-free towers.

Penn Station Area Development, which is probably the biggest project [Governor Hochul’s] ESD has underway anywhere in the state, has become a symbol of secretiveness and the unaccountability of State power. We ask the Governor and you to halt this project until it is completely and publicly transparent and the people of New York City and their elected representatives are given a fully informed and meaningful voice.

2. Strong Economy for All, ALIGN-NY, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness and other advocates came out in support of a bill to end subsidies for e-commerce warehouses and distribution centers, which are overwhelmingly owned by mega-corporations like Amazon and Wal-Mart (Reinvent Albany also issued a statement in support of the bill). According to Good Jobs First, Amazon subsidies have cost NY nearly $400 million.

From our statement:

Among New York’s dumbest forms of taxpayer handouts are the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars supporting e-commerce warehouses and distribution centers. This is a total waste of public funds. Research by national watchdog Good Jobs First clearly shows companies locate their distribution networks based on access to highways and major markets, not subsidies.

3. At Boondoggle, Pat Garofalo writes about how the Empire State is now at the center of the fight to end corporate monopolies through anti-trust laws, business subsidy reform, and actions by Attorney General Tish James.

New York is one of the worst purveyors of corporate tax incentives in the country, spending some $10 billion annually: About $4.5 billion of that is at the state level, and another $5.5 billion comes from a corrupt network of local development offices known as Industrial Development Agencies, or IDAs. Many terrible boondoggles have arisen out of this system, which even earned some of previous Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s cronies criminal convictions.

4. Buffalo’s Investigative Post reports that NYS has historically not provided massive subsidies for stadiums – so why start with the Buffalo Bills? Negotiations are still ongoing for a new stadium to be built in Orchard Park near Buffalo, which could cost the state at least $700 million.

Krueger, a Democrat from New York City and chair of the state Senate’s Finance Committee, generally opposes the use of public money to build stadiums and arenas for privately owned sports teams. She sees no reason why the Bills – New York’s only NFL franchise – should receive any more from the state than the other major league teams that have built sports venues. “Objectively, I already told the governor I’m opposed to this,” Krueger told Investigative Post. “It’s not a good use of the people’s money.”

5. Advocates renewed their calls for the state to end its subsidies for horse racing. The Times Union recently reported that since 2008 the state has spent $2.9 billion on horse racing despite studies showing that the industry creates few if any jobs. (See our memo of support for S7260/A7745, which would end certain tax breaks for race horses.)

“At a moment when our working-class communities so desperately need funding for critical services like education, human services, and economic justice, to prop up a deadly industry that often abuses and neglects the horses in its care and is known for violations of workers’ rights, with $230 million of New York taxpayers’ dollars, is not right,” said state Sen. Robert Jackson, D-Manhattan.

If you got this from a friend, sign up here. Subsidy Sheet is written by Tom Speaker, Policy Analyst at Reinvent Albany. Please send questions and tips to tom [at] reinventalbany.org. We look forward to hearing from you!