The Boeing Co. was the beneficiary of a deal to end all deals this past weekend, when the Washington Legislature voted to extend $8.7 billion in tax breaks to the aircraft manufacturer stretching out 27 years until 2040. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the tax breaks into law Monday at the Museum of Flight.
“This is the biggest tax subsidy in U.S. history,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit which tracks so called “Megadeals” in which states offer sweeteners to major corporations.
“Nothing is near this deal: The fact it took place in days is breathtaking,” LeRoy added. “This deal happens in the state that already has the most regressive tax code in the nation.”In a solidly Blue State, imagine that.
But, the author of the story, the impeccably liberal Joel Connelly, seems to have slept through the lecture on 'tax incidence'--the legal obligation to pay a tax doesn't tell us who actually pays it, the elasticity of demand does that--in his economics class;
The Boeing package passed the Washington State Senate on a 42-2 vote, and the House of Representatives by a vote of 75-11. It had broad bipartisan support. “The Democrats will give away the store as much as the Republicans,” LeRoy joked on Monday.
The extension of tax breaks to 2040 was due to the anticipated manufacturing period of the Boeing 777X.
Inslee has made the 777X a centerpiece of his economic strategy, and staged a big ceremony with politicians and local economic development brass at Paine Field earlier this year.
With the 777X deal — if Boeing and the Machinists reach an agreement — Washington will be giving a big tax break to keep something it already has.But something that Boeing has the option of moving away from Washington state, Mr. Connelly. Duh!
No comments:
Post a Comment