WNYC, By Marie Cusick, February 10, 2012. In 2009, IDAs gave away close to half a billion dollars in tax breaks to companies in the name of economic development. But in their four decades of existence, they’ve been accused of everything from failing to comply with state laws, to simply being inefficient. Reform advocates say it’s time to take another look at IDAs.
WIVB4, By Nalina Shapiro, January 20, 2012. Industrial development agencies are supposed to help attract, retain or expand local businesses locally through financial incentives. But is that really happening? People with the Coalition for Economic Justice in Buffalo say no, and that companies like VWR in the Town of Tonawanda are taking advantage of your taxpayer dollars.
The Huffington Post, by Michele Simon, January 18, 2012. Having saturated the rural landscape, shuttering local stores in small town America along the way, now, in the wake of stagnant sales and increased competition, Walmart desperately needs to expand into urban markets.
Buffalo News, December 21, 2011. A group seeking reform of state business subsidies called for the end of a Rochester company’s tax abatements Tuesday because it plans to close a Tonawanda warehouse and move the jobs.
Newsday, By James T. Madore December 16, 2011. A Queens-based maker of metal doors and bathroom stalls is seeking more tax breaks to stay in New York State. Karp Associates Inc. and its sister company, Flush Metal Partitions, have asked the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency to give them a more generous property-tax abatement than was offered in March.