To: President Donald Trump, The Washington State House, The Washington State Senate, Governor Jay Inslee, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Sensible Support for Businesses
In the effort to be responsible with tax-payer monies, we propose that all business subsidies, tax-breaks, or regulatory relief undergo a mandatory review no less than each five years. All business support that is $500,000 or more in any single year, more than $1,000,000 over a five year period, or results in avoidance of regulatory fees or costs in excess of $500,000 over a five-year period, must be reviewed by the appropriate municipal, state or federal entity that is responsible for granting the tax-break, subsidy or regulatory relief.
The public entity shall review the benefits of continuing the business support that it provides to the public citizens who absorb the cost of such awards to the businesses, produce a report that is available to impacted citizenry, and conduct an open comment period of no less than two-weeks before considering whether to renew the business support under review.
If the study, report, and public comment period are not conducted, then it the public entity shall not be able to continue the business support in question.
The public entity shall review the benefits of continuing the business support that it provides to the public citizens who absorb the cost of such awards to the businesses, produce a report that is available to impacted citizenry, and conduct an open comment period of no less than two-weeks before considering whether to renew the business support under review.
If the study, report, and public comment period are not conducted, then it the public entity shall not be able to continue the business support in question.
Why is this important?
Corporations and Businesses receive huge tax-breaks and subsidies from local, state and federal governments - not all of those windfalls are of benefit to the tax-payer who has to foot the bill. I propose that all business subsidies / tax breaks of more than $500,000, or $100,000 for five years or more, are subject to automatic review. Before the subsidies / breaks can be continued, legislative bodies must determine the value to the citizenry, produce a detailed report on their findings, and have an open public comment period.