Subsidy Sheet: New York Democrats’ Misguided Love Affair with Corporate Giveaways

March 24, 2023

Read our op-ed in this week’s Crain’s about New York Democrats’ misguided love affair with corporate giveaways and trickle-down economics. Democrats in New York control all statewide offices and have a supermajority in both houses of the legislature. Why does a party that puts social equity and wealth inequality at the top of their agenda support such massive corporate giveaways? Why do New York taxpayers get stuck paying so much to super-wealthy people and corporations?

–

New York Corporate Giveaway News:

  • Crain’s ran a series of op-eds this week blasting corporate giveaways. In addition to ours, we recommend you read op-eds from across the political spectrum by Strong Economy for All Coalition, Citizens Budget Commission, and Empire Center.
  • Crain’s explains the $10 billion in corporate giveaways that state and local taxpayers dole out every year, and acknowledges that the payoff to the public is “murky at best.” 
  • We were in Albany this week calling on NY Democrats to end their love affair with corporate giveaways. 
  • Our John Kaehny breaks down the film/TV tax credit on Capitol Pressroom and explains what an expanded $7 billion program means for taxpayers. 
  • Senator and Chair of the Finance Committee Liz Krueger talked about corporate handouts with Ben Max. She said that if she were “queen for a day,” she would not include the film/TV subsidy in this year’s budget. 
  • Amazon is set to receive a 10.7-megawatt allocation of low-cost power from the NY Power Authority. This is in addition to a $123 million tax break package that the company received from the Niagara County IDA.
  • Corporate giveaways rank 13th of important factors in business location decisions according to the most recent Corporate Survey. The top factors influencing location decisions? Labor costs, quality-of-life, and the availability of skilled labor. 
  • New York’s “economic development” authority was in California this week touting new taxpayer funding for video game developers. Apparently the people giving away New York taxpayer dollars are proud that our state is one of the few that gives public funds to video game developers.

–

Fun fact: Last week’s fun fact was a riddle in which we asked: “What are other words for ‘crony capitalism’ or ‘crony socialism’?” No one was brave enough to submit an answer! But the answer is: “corporate giveaways.” Gosh readers, you missed out on a free Reinvent Albany pen! 

–

If you got this from a friend, sign up here. Subsidy Sheet is written by Elizabeth Marcello and edited by John Kaehny.