tax rebates

Good, for all the reasons articulated here and by the Chronicle.

City Council, however, should not intepret this as an endorsement of retail subsidies by the public.

 Retail subsidies are generally a bad idea and the City ought to stay out of that business.

I have never bought the argument that we need subsidies to keep retail developments from fleeing to the suburbs for three reasons.

First, it makes little sense to lure retail for the sake of sales tax revenue if we turn around and rebate that tax revenue to the developer.

Austin voters narrowly failed Proposition 2, which would have prohibited subsidies to retail projects and would have stopped the payments of tax rebates to the Domain shopping center in North...

On the Nov. 4 ballot, Austin residents will not only face a decision between McCain and Obama, but also whether to prevent the city from subsidizing retail stores.

If approved, a new citizen-led initiative called Stop Domain Subsidies will halt any tax rebates or subsidies provided by the city to retail stores.

I don't like the Domain incentives, either.  I don't like subsidies for retail.  (But then I don't like subsidies for manufacturing plants or call centers or corporate offices, either.)

True, the city needs to maintain its tax base.  But rebating the taxes from a new development is a piss-poor strategy for maintaining the tax base.  Besides being self-defeating, it forces the rest of us to pay (even if just slightly) higher taxes, potentially displaces other prospective retailers, and encourages prospective retailers to engage in rent-seeking.

Critics were skeptical of President Bush's plan to give taxpayers rebates in hopes of stimulating the economy.

It's been almost two months since the first checks were processed. Wall Street Journal economics editor David Wessel says people appear to be spending the money, but it won't be enough to prevent a recession.

The US budget deficit widened in May to almost double what it was a year ago, the US Treasury says.

Last week, the federal government began sending out more than $100 billion in "tax rebates" to millions of Americans in an effort to stimulate the sluggish economy.

Eight in 10 Americans believe that the government's $110 billion effort to help consumers will not boost the economy, according to a poll released Friday.