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July 13, 2009
Goodbye corporate handouts: How Arizona's "Taj Ma-mall" could end corporate welfare
Enter Stage Right
By Darcy Olsen
Congratulations Bruce Ratner! Your Atlantic Yards megaproject is now a national poster project for corporate handouts:
Feeling outraged about the billions of dollars pouring into GM and Chrysler's private pockets? Now take a look in your own backyard, where state and local subsidies cost over $50 billion annually—from Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards to everyday big-box retailers. Taxpayers have a long tradition of losing corporate handout battles, but a new court case could bring these boondoggles to a screeching halt: Arizona's Taj Ma-mall.
The article explains that many state constitutions have tougher provisions than the federal constitution for protecting against corporate giveaways.
For example, one of the points being argued in the case just accepted by the State Appeals Court has to do with the constitutionality of using eminent domain for uses other than low-income housing.
Posted by lumi at July 13, 2009 5:55 AM