Another "big jobs" announcement, and tens of millions of Wis tax dollars along with it

Hey look, it’s another “jobs announcement” event for the Governor to attend!

Komatsu Mining Corp.'s proposed new office, manufacturing and training operations in Milwaukee's Harbor District are expected to eventually total around 1,000 jobs, including 600 local employees who will move there.

And that will provide a huge boost to the city's plans to redevelop the Harbor District by converting vacant lots and underused buildings into a hub of jobs, housing, retail space and other new uses.

Komatsu's future $285 million corporate campus will house manufacturing operations now based at 4400 W. National Ave., West Milwaukee, as well as corporate offices at Honey Creek Corporate Center, 135 S. 84th St., on Milwaukee's far west side.

It does sound like a great project, particularly because it moves Komatsu’s operations to the harbor, which makes it much easier for them to ship large cranes and other equipment via freighter.

But by this point, you should know that after you ask “What’s the project?”, the second question in Fitzwalkerstan is always “How much will it cost us?”

Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. announced it has agreed to provide the company $59.5 million in state income tax credits over the next 12 years.

The amount of those tax credits will depend on the number of jobs created and retained, the amount of capital investment and the amount spent on purchasing equipment, goods and services from Wisconsin-based companies, the WEDC said.

Also, the city is proposing to provide up to $25 million in funds through new property tax revenue generated by the corporate campus. That would come through a tax incremental financing district, which would need Common Council approval.

There's also $15 million that the City of Milwaukee is putting up for a public Riverwalk in the area, and complementing a new 8-story mixed use facility of housing and the headquarters ofd Michels Corporation's 400-employee Milwaukee headquarters.

So nearly $100 million in tax money is being used to move a company 4 miles and MAYBE add 400 jobs? For a Wisconsin manufacturer that already was paying next to nothing in state taxes due to the Manufacturers and Agriculture Tax Credit?

At the same time, it’s notable that the business community in the Fox Cities and elected officials in the 920 are still pleading with the State Legislature to give a FoxConn-style bailout of $100 million to keep a Kimberly-Clark plant open near Appleton. And remember last month that Walker and WEDC has set aside $60 million to Green Bay Packaging for another alleged expansion of 200 jobs.

Now add in the $469 million of state tax dollars that is slated to go to the Foxconn development in the 2019-21, and can you tell me where that money is going to come from? Remember that Wisconsin has seen corporate income taxes fall in each of the last 3 years, requiring individual income taxes and sales taxes to make up the difference.

In addition, corporate income taxes at the federal level have also been cut, with 30% less revenue going to Uncle Sam despite record profits. And it sure isn’t trickling down into accelerated job or real wage growth – if anything, it’s slower than it was this time last year.

So maybe it’s time that the free ride for corporations and tax-funded handouts be put to an end, with a fairer tax code that helps the rest of us. Tony Evers noted this in a recent address to the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, where he noted the large amount of Wisconsin families living close to the edge, as mentioned in the recent ALICE survey from the United Way.

Speaking at a Milwaukee Rotary Club event Tuesday, Evers cited an August United Way of Wisconsin report that found almost 40 percent of Wisconsin families struggled to pay for basic needs like transportation and child care.

Evers said giving these families a tax cut would boost the state’s economy more evenly. Funding these cuts, he said, is a matter of priorities….

Evers maintains the state can find savings in parts of government, including the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the state’s job creation agency, which Evers has vowed to eliminate and replace.

Along with dumping the tens of millions we give away each year in WEDC welfare we can have around $325 million a year come in from dumping the MAC giveaway. Then add in $200 million a year that the state saves from stopping its sabotage of the ACA and taking the Medicaid expansion, and that’s well over $1 billion extra in the next budget that can be used for real investments and tax cuts for people that could use a break.

As the Wisconsin Budget Project has frequently pointed out, low-income Wisconsinites have seen their taxes rise by Walker and WisGOP’s decision to whittle away at the Homestead and Earned Income Tax Credits over the last 8 years while not allowing for the state’s minimum wage to go above $7.25 an hour. And while Walker is proposing to finally expand those credits if the state re-elects him (nice timing to come around, eh?), those plans will still do nothing for most low-income working Wisconsinites, as it’s targeted to specific demographic groups like the elderly and the newly-married.

But face it, Scotty doesn’t care about tax fairness, he just wants a headline and pictures for ads (along with kickbacks for his campaign). And he’ll worry about what to cut and who to screw over for this corporate welfare at a later point (if he’s not able to leave it for the next Guv to clean up). But the rest of us that actually do care about what this state will look like and realize that the rest of us will be paying dearly for the billions in corporate giveaways, both in higher taxes and in a lower quality of life because better, longer-lasting investments are being passed up.

So let’s end the GOP’s corporate gravy train and get back into the 20th and 21st Century-style policies instead of this Gilded Age garbage and graft that isn’t helping 99% of us.