Each year, IDAs are required to report on the projects they subsidize. We analyze that data and produce key facts about IDA performance. Highlights of this year’s analysis include:
- $162 million in IDA tax breaks went to companies that lost jobs, failed to create a single job, or never made any job creation promises.
- Over one-half of all projects that ended in 2011 failed to create a single job. 94 subsidy agreements that ended in 2011 lost jobs. These businesses originally agreed to create a total of 5,971 jobs. Instead, they lost 17,017 jobs. Of the 52,565 jobs agreed to be retained by projects ending in 2011, these projects lost 1,166 net jobs.
- IDAs have maintained high spending on net tax exemptions, spending $490 million in 2011, slightly more than they spent in 2010. Since reporting began in 2003, IDAs have spent a total of over $4 billion in net tax exemptions.
- Local governments are increasingly picking up the tab for corporate tax exemptions, losing $401 million in tax revenue in 2011, including $211 million lost to local schools.
Download the complete analysis below.