Subsidy Sheet: Subsidy stories you may have missed

NY corporate giveaway news from this week:

• For now, the Albany County Industrial Development Agency will continue to only offer tax breaks if they are approved by the city of Albany or towns in Albany County. The County IDA, which is controlled by the County Executive and Legislature, had proposed unilaterally offering tax breaks without local approval, but backed down in the face of scathing criticism from the city of Albany and towns (Times Union). Albany’s advice and consent process is unusual. Most NY county IDAs do not ask their cities and towns before approving tax breaks. 
• The Times Union editorialized on the Albany County IDA’s proposed “usurpation of local authority.” However, the ed board forgot to mention that all IDAs are inherently undemocratic. They provide tax breaks – which economists call “tax expenditures” – that are the same as spending outside of the budgets voted on by legislators. IDAs are also undemocratic in that they are non-elected bodies determining who pays taxes and who does not. 
• In other Albany County IDA news, the agency also approved $9 million in handouts for an expansion of industrial conglomerate Atlas Copco’s facility in Voorheesville (Albany Business Review). 
• On October 8th, the Assembly will hold a hearing about the effectiveness of economic development programs in the NYS 2024-25 budget. How about the Assembly up its game and do a joint hearing with the Senate that actually scrutinizes the effectiveness of New York’s $11 billion in annual corporate subsidies? Traditionally, the Assembly’s annual hearing consists of members pressing Empire State Development to accelerate pork spending in their districts – not exactly the road to reforming runaway boondoggles.

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