City Councilor Michelle Wu calls for corporate tax break transparency

Feb. 13--Under current city law, private organizations who receive tax breaks aren't required to disclose whether or not they've fulfilled the commitments required by in their agreement -- such as wage standards, availability of health insurance and the number of total full-time positions.

City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu wants to change that.

"Any person should be able to go online and see where taxpayer dollars are going," Wu told the Herald. "The bottom line is, transparency always makes for better policy."

Wu filed an ordinance Monday that asks the city to amend its code and require corporations to disclose tax subsidies granted and create company-specific reports on jobs created, wages and benefits paid, along with capital invested. The council met in November to discuss the city's transparency on tax breaks and councilors said they hope the ordinance would be iron-clad and wouldn't have wiggle room.

At the hearing, John Barros, the city's chief of economic development, said the economy is doing so well, the city doesn't hand out many tax breaks

"I think when a company sounds the bell and says we're going to leave or if, that should not be the driving factor by which you make a decision," Barros said. " ... I'm talking from a very hot economy, I can tell you with a certainty that we've said no probably 10 times more than we've said yes on any kind of tax deal. Companies ask, and we're not in an economy where we need to give tax deals."

But Wu says in order to achieve full transparency in the community, there must be easy access to information for the public.

"Overall across the country, cities are having conversations about if it's worth it to give tax breaks to companies," Wu said. "We can't have that conversation unless we have full transparency, so Boston can understand whether companies are following through with commitments that were promised."

The state received the lowest score from the Pew Foundation in 2017 for its evaluation of tax breaks, while the city's Tax Increment Financing Program was given a score of zero in transparency from Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center. Cities such as New York and Austin, Texas, have implemented databases that provide information surrounding tax breaks to the public. The council will consider the ordinance Wednesday at its weekly meeting.

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