Big Win for Transparency in Florida.
If the Economic Development Departments are anything like the Commerce and Industry Boards of the past, the inducement incentives were an appeasement for cronies.
Press Release from U.S. PIRG
Good News for Government Transparency: New Disclosure Required for Government Tax Expenditures and Abatements
In a major victory for government transparency, all states and local governments will now be required to disclose the amount of revenue lost through programs that grant special tax breaks and abatements for economic development. The rule issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) was the first ever governing such tax expenditures that cost state and local governments an estimated $70 billion per year but often remain undisclosed and have lacked standards for reporting.
“The public needs to know how much these programs cost in order to judge whether they deliver enough to justify the lost revenues. Ordinary taxpayers must pick up the tab when governments issue these tax favors to select companies,” said Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). “Today is a big victory for government transparency, even if it falls short of requiring best practice,” he added.
Many pro-transparency and civic groups were disappointed that the new standards did not require governments to follow the lead of most states and several cities in disclosing which companies have received special tax abatements.
For the past six years, U.S. PIRG has tracked how well each of the fifty states makes data accessible to the public about specific contracts, subsidies and other outlays. The annual Following the Money reports have shown steady progress as states have made more economic development expenditure information available to the public through online tools that allow visitors to search, sort and download the data. A similar U.S. PIRG study, Transparency in City Spending, found major cities are inconsistent in how well they make data about economic development accessible to the public.
http://floridafaf.org/press-release-from-u-s-pirg/