The bulk of that package, which is meant to subsidize construction of a new corporate headquarters downtown, is what’s called a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentive. Sherwin Williams will be permitted to keep the non-school portion of what it would have paid in new property taxes and invest that sum in its facility.
But the package also includes a $13.5 million construction grant — free money from the city. One local think tank is urging City Council to delay its vote on the package, in part because city money could be in short supply with an economic recession on the horizon.
“As the COVID-19 crisis is forcing employers to lay off workers, the city of Cleveland will lose a large portion of its main source of revenue, the payroll tax,” wrote Policy Matters Ohio’s Zach Schiller, in a post Monday. “The prospect of an economic downturn makes it unwise for city council to approve the incentives at this time.”
Schiller noted multiple other reasons why the incentives are imprudent under any circumstances. Among them: the stratospheric executive pay of Sherwin Williams CEO John Morikis ($14.85 million) relative to median worker income; the more than $1 billion in stock buybacks in 2018 and 2019 which suggest that the corporation is by no means hurting for cash; and the fact that corporations overwhelmingly make the same decision about office locations even without incentives of the kind Cleveland is offering.
Policy Matters called on the state of Ohio to assess its (still secret, but no doubt sizable) incentive package as well. In the same post, Schiller argued against subsidizing Sherwin Williams’ plan to move its R&D employees from Cleveland and Warrensville Heights to a new facility in Brecksville
“This will subsidize an overwhelmingly white, relatively affluent community over a largely black, much poorer community. With thousands of businesses shuttered and 139,000 Ohioans applying for unemployment benefits in the first five days of last week alone, the state will soon experience a major downdraft in revenues,” Schiller wrote. “In this environment, it’s especially inappropriate for the state to subsidize the move from Warrensville Heights and Cleveland to Brecksville.”
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This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2020.
Not to worry, all Taxin Jackson has to do is put another hefty income tax that us workers have to pay, or yet another ma$$ive property tax increase for us homeowners to pay!!!
After all, it’s only taxpayer money, and there’s always plenty more where that came from according to these crooks!!!
Sam — always anti- business. This virus will pass and things return to normal. Sounds like Sam jumping on any opportunity to sink Cleveland progress.
Smash? What have you ever smashed?
Commie? You wouldn’t know one if he bit you on your sorry ass.
Hard work? What have you ever done? Ever held a job, asshat?
Our? Who? You and your shadow?
Allard knows all including how movies should be made, what is good music, how the government should work (hint: comm_nism), who should live in what communities, and how multimillion dollar businesses should spend their money.
Loving the passive aggressive, girlfriend-ready-to-argue tone of all his article titles though. mAyBe….
Allard will soon know the price of gentrification when the natives start getting restless and end up at his doorstep. They know it’s a safe bet because of his aversion to firearms and the fact that he’s an OG Soyboy.
If Cleveland wants to cut costs, the first place to start is with out bloat in City Council.
Big Government, Communist Scene Magazine loves the Democrat Ruling Class so much that they ran interference for Council when the Issue to reduce size and pay was to be put on the ballot, then excused away the removal of it from the ballot.
They love their Ruling Class so much that they help steal your right to choose how you’re Governed.
But, Muh Corporate Welfare.
They sold me paint that caused me personal injury. I specifically asked for non slippery concrete paint. Not only did I hurt myself, my floor bubbled and peeled. They claim I did not apply the paint correctly. I will never buy from them ever again.
Sounds like the “D” stands for Dummy.