Wal-Mart's Piggy Bank: You

We have seen the enemy, and they is us. Plus our politicians, of course. From an article in Crain's Chicago Business:

Wal-Mart has won big in Illinois
By Steven R. Strahler
May 24, 2004

As the Chicago City Council prepares to vote Wednesday on whether to allow Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to open locations in the city, a study released Monday says that Illinois tops all states in subsidizing the No. 1 retailer’s expansion.

Illinois contributed a whopping $145.7 million in tax breaks, free or subsidized land and other handouts to 29 Wal-Mart deals since the early 1980s, according to Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group. Texas was a distant second, with $107.7 million earmarked for 30 deals, the study said.

Wal-Mart isn’t seeking any direct incentives for a proposed West Side store and another on the South Side, the city says. But the 50-acre South Side site, where Wal-Mart anticipates occupying a third of the 465,000-square-foot retail development, is earmarked for a $31.5-million tax-increment financing district (TIF). The TIF would help fund demolition of a steel mill and construction of a new road and viaducts. A City Council vote on the incentive hasn’t been scheduled. On Wednesday, the Council will address zoning changes associated with Wal-Mart’s proposals.

Nationally, more than $1 billion in incentives has been showered on 244 Wal-Mart projects, according to the Good Jobs First study. But, the study authors note, that figure could be the “tip of the iceberg,” considering the difficulty of compiling comprehensive statistics and what is described as Wal-Mart’s contention that it actively seeks incentives for about a third of its 3,500 stores nationwide.

(Full story)

Enough of this. I think it's time we--Illinoisans and Americans in general--stop giving handouts to this underdog little retailer. It's nice that we were able to get them a toehold in our local communities to enable them to run their quiet, unassuming little operations, be a responsible, union-friendly employer and co-exist peaceably with existing businesses. But now that the Beast from Bentonville is the world's largest company, I think they can get by on their own.

In fact, if Wal-Mart is really the responsible corporate citizen they claim they are, wouldn't the right thing for them to do be to repay the $1 billion to all the various municipalities, or at least a portion of it? The company is currently sitting on almost $4 billion. It would make a nice show of gratitude for all the towns which helped make its phenomenal success possible.