by admin | Jan 18, 2016 | News and Updates
The Free Enterprise Club is often at the helm of highlighting instances of corporate welfare which often coalesce around developer sweeteners and tax carve outs. However, another form of this has gone on for far too long without the traditional public scrutiny. This is perhaps because of whom the beneficiary is as well as whom is doing the subsidizing.
Currently the law in Arizona requires new start-up corporations and LLCs to file Articles of Incorporation or Articles of Organization, respectively, in a newspaper within their county for three consecutive publications. Traditionally, this practice has been in place as a way to notify the public if a bad actor has set up shop, peddling his latest snake oil. This is about as outdated as the reference to snake oil itself. A policy meant for a different time and place.
That would explain why so few states still require this step. Arizona is only one of four states that require corporations to publish a legal notice of their formation in a newspaper, and only one of three that require it of new LLCs. The most westward state, aside from Arizona, is Nebraska. Texas eliminated this requirement on their new businesses in 2008.
This requirement is just one more cost and barrier to new businesses. In New York, this unnecessary filing will cost new business startups anywhere from $800 – $2,000. This can represent a significant percentage of a start-ups capital. In Arizona, not only is it a cost to business that does not provide a return to the business, but the process is cumbersome and wastes valuable time and energy.
It is no secret the newspaper industry has struggled for years, trying to adapt to more digital revenue streams as readership rapidly declines. And for years different legislators have run bills that would allow businesses the option to file their public notices online with the Corporation Commission, the entity that already reviews, approves and maintains a database for new and ongoing businesses. According to a 2000 report by the National Newspaper Association, an estimated 5 – 10 percent of revenues for newspapers are made up by public notices. That would explain why newspapers invest so heavily each year into hiring an army of lobbyists to maintain the status quo.
As the debate over notices has worn on, the newspaper lobby doesn’t even conceal the fact that this is solely a financial issue. They brazenly cite the impact to their bottom line as a reason for lawmakers to toe the line on requiring notices. This is usually accompanied by veiled reminders that they buy ink by the barrel and will write nasty op-eds about lawmakers who oppose them.
Lawmakers shouldn’t be bullied or intimidated to protect a special interest carve-out, especially when the money comes from the pockets of those who can least afford it. It’s time Arizona moves into the 21st Century and stops subsidizing the newspaper industry on the backs of small businesses and entrepreneurs.
by admin | Dec 10, 2015 | News and Updates
Last month the Club shared how Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a tool used by local governments and city planners to subsidize projects that benefit politically connected developers and landowners.
That is not the only problem with this financing scheme: TIFs are also a creative way for governments to steal money from other governments and taxpayers and thwart spending limitations.
TIFs Rob Peter to Pay Paul
In other states that have TIFs, Cities constantly compete with other districts and taxing jurisdictions for the revenues levied on the same tax payers. Local taxing districts in Chicago lost $3.6 million in revenues to a single TIF district in just six years. Another Chicago TIF, the North Loop, actually generated less property revenue in 2006 than it did in 1984 when it was originally created. Multnomah County, in Oregon, was forced to cut budgets for health, public safety, libraries, and other programs for nine straight years because TIF districts in Portland. As a result, taxpayers outside of these specialized districts are forced to pick up the tab.
TIFs are Void of Transparency
Since TIFs are complicated and rely on future revenue growth to fund their existence, property owners are typically unaware that their tax dollars are being siphoned off. Unlike other districts and jurisdictions which show up on the property tax bill, in most states TIFs do not. In 2007, residents of Cook County were oblivious to the fact that $892 million of their property tax dollars (10 cents of every dollar) had been sucked out and diverted to their 402 TIF districts. Aggregate property tax bills showed the county was assessing $720 million, however the reality was actually $1.2 billion, a figure absent from the Cook County Annual Budget as well. Hidden inflation and lack of transparency make TIF the invisible tax.
TIFs Lead to Run-Away Debt
Another clever gimmick commonly used by local governments to expand their borrowing capacity is to avoid calling TIF a debt. This has been held up by many courts, as debt is generally understood to require the full faith and credit of the tax payers. Absent of that, TIF has sneakily been the culprit of billions of dollars of indebtedness, without the accountability of debt limitation statutes. The cities love being able to run up the credit cards and dodge spending accountability. But calling a TIF a spending earmark does not change the terms and reality of repayment. Although it might not meet the legal definition, if it looks, talks, and walks like a debt – it’s a debt.
TIFs everywhere are failing
In 2011, Governor Brown of California announced his intention to close the state’s $25 billion budget gap by dissolving the more than 400 TIF districts. TIFs were sucking $5.5 billion a year from schools and other services that the state was left having to backfill. Estes Park citizens in Colorado in 2010 voted by over 60% to rid their community of TIF. The mask is slipping. Taxpayers are starting to see that under the complicated formulas and explanations behind TIF are bad policies that hurt the general population.
TIFs are like that bad penny, they just keep turning up. Each year the TIF peddlers try to pass another version of the financing scheme in Arizona, and they will likely be at it again next year. The Club will be watching to see which lawmakers side with the TIF lobby over hardworking taxpayers.
by admin | Dec 9, 2015 | News and Updates
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, December 9th, 2015
CONTACT: Scot Mussi: (602) 508-6088
Legislature Votes for Overhaul of Arizona Commerce Authority
Phoenix, AZ—Today the joint Senate and House Commerce Committee voted 9-0 to recommend a complete overhaul of the Arizona Commerce Authority, a decision that the Free Enterprise Club strongly supports.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club has long been skeptical of the agency’s merit. The ACA is afforded $20 million a year of which half goes to a small group of well-connected businesses. Whether those dollars are spent to subsidize job training for a handful of corporations, as a sweetener to “close deals,” or as a credit to wealthy investors to hedge their risky ventures – the ACA is an agency whose very job is to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.
“If the legislature sees an advantage to renewing the ACA’s charter, substantive reforms need to be a condition of the renewal.” Club President Scot Mussi said at the hearing. “That includes a full review of mission, scope and role the ACA would play in promoting broad based economic growth in Arizona.”
Recently the Auditor General did a full report on the ACA’s practices and performance and the findings were very troubling. The audit found agency’s job creation claims to be grossly exaggerated. Instead of reporting actual jobs the ACA claimed to successfully attract, they reported “committed jobs.” Additionally, it was unclear to the auditor what happened if committed jobs never became actual jobs – in the cases where tax credits are awarded or checks written to select businesses.
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The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is a 501(C)(4) policy and advocacy group that is not affiliated with any other organization. For more information please visit www.azfree.org
by admin | Dec 3, 2015 | News and Updates
The Club is at the forefront of combatting the government practice of providing special handouts to select businesses. States and cities compete to out-spend each other landing the hottest business. In the meantime, billions of dollars are extracted from other productive tax payers in order to fund these incentives.
Yet the majority of our jobs and economy are powered by businesses that receive no special treatment whatsoever – and often have the extra hurdles of regulation and taxation.
In this Free Enterprise Spotlight, Aimee Rigler with The Club interviews David Tait, the owner of EVO Swim School. Tait shares the ups and downs of business ownership and his inspiring accomplishments building an enterprise on his own. David is part of the 99% of entrepreneurs who start a business and create jobs without government subsidies – and for that we celebrate him!
by admin | Nov 24, 2015 | News and Updates
Examining the results of the November elections, it was a mixed bag for Arizona taxpayers.
Specifically, there was a lot of debate surrounding the numerous bonds and override requests being pursued by school districts, the most controversial of which being spending requests that had failed previously at the ballot box. Since Arizona law permits schools to “recycle” their bond or override request even if it had failed the previous year, many of those districts were back again asking for money.
Coupled with the use of the off-cycle (low turnout) election, most of the recycled overrides and bonds passed on November 3rd. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club will continue to look at reforms related to this issue, specifically addressing the issue of recycled spending requests that had failed the previous year and the consolidation of election dates to even numbered years.
But there were a few victories for taxpayers worth mentioning – in of all places Pima County.
This year Pima County decided they wanted to reach deep into the pockets of taxpayers, proposing a package of bonds totaling close to a billion dollars. By overwhelming majorities, voters rejected all 8 bond proposals, which included higher property taxes to fund economic development, tourism facilities, parks facilities, conservation projects and flood control.
It was a result that left supporters “shocked” that taxpayers didn’t acquiesce to their demands.
Also on the ballot of Tucson residents was the issue of photo radar vans. Voters expressed their opposition to Proposition 201 with 66 percent of the vote. Citizens were critical of the city using the radar vans as a growing revenue stream.
Additionally, voters in Sunnyside Unified School District in Tucson rejected the fourth request for bonds and overrides in the last four years. Much of the $11.8 million in funding was designated for all-day kindergarten. This saved the average tax payer with a home values at $100,000 nearly $300 on their property tax bill a year.
Pima County has been slow to recover from the recession, and the disconnect between struggling taxpayers and the spending appetite of government officials continues to widen. With voters sending a clear message that they have had enough, it will be interesting to see if the spending lobby will accept the results from the election or continue to press on with their agenda. Unfortunately, if history is any guide, it will likely be the latter.
by admin | Nov 19, 2015 | News and Updates
When it comes to providing targeted incentives to developers and picking winners and losers with our tax dollars, it’s hard to beat tax increment financing (TIF.) Currently the usage of tax increment financing is prohibited in Arizona, but if city officials, planners, developers and politically connected landowners get their way, it may soon become a reality in our state.
What is a TIF? A TIF allows local government to create special “economic development” zones where they are able to take the tax generated by future growth (the increment) in the zone to finance bonds for development. Public services such as schools, fire, sewer and police are financed at the original assessed value of the property while the additional tax revenue generated in the zone is used for land acquisition, infrastructure and developer subsidies.
It’s easy to see why local governments and insiders would love to have TIFs in Arizona. In the zero-sum game of “economic development” cities are clamoring to offer handouts to subsidize light rail, shopping malls, hotels, car dealerships, high density housing and multiuse “green” facilities. The lure of city planners to treat urban areas like their personal sim-city accounts make TIFs a go-to funding mechanism open to rampant use and abuse. The justification is the same as for all economic cronyism – development would not have occurred without the giveaway. This is neither supported by data or common sense.
A study done in the City of Chicago of multiple TIF districts actually showed a slower job growth and subsequent losses in jobs in other areas of the region. These facts demonstrate the jobs “created” by TIFs would have occurred anyway, just elsewhere. In Fort Worth, Texas the city gave $40 million in property TIF dollars to a Cabelas. A Big Bass Pro Shop already existed 10 miles away, without handouts.
Making matters worse, the additional demand for public services without additional revenues, leads to one of two inevitable conclusions – a decrease in the quality of those services or an increase in the tax rates. This hardly creates the fertile ground for other developers to set up shop. Additionally, other developers are less likely to build if they do not receive an incentive like their neighbor. This is seen as an unfair competitive advantage and a general assault on equity. Subsidizing one development has an opportunity cost that is rarely factored.
Some have attempted to defend the use of TIF districts as a tool to revitalize blighted areas, not fund economic development. Of course, governments now exaggerate what is considered a blighted area by designating them as having a “potential for revitalization”, a “conservation zone,” or being “at risk for blight.” In some cases, entire neighborhoods have been deemed “blighted” despite high valuations in homes, forcing savvier citizens to band together to fight blight designations and protect themselves from the inevitable squeeze of higher taxes or subpar public services.
All too often TIF districts are highly gerrymandered to hand pick properties that benefit a few select developers, as demonstrated by this TIF district in Portland, Oregon:
The bottom line is that TIF districts always end up pitting special interests against the majority of property owners in the community. And given the track record in other states, taxpayers lose.
This requirement is just one more cost and barrier to new businesses. In New York, this unnecessary filing will cost new business startups anywhere from $800 – $2,000. This can represent a significant percentage of a start-ups capital. In Arizona, not only is it a cost to business that does not provide a return to the business, but the process is cumbersome and wastes valuable time and energy.
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