Hunting For Taxpayer Refunds In Hays County (Updated)
Already more than a quarter million dollars in hock to local Hays County taxpayers, outdoor retailer Cabela’s may now be forced to cough up nearly half-a-million more to the Texas Enterprise Fund.
The controversial state business incentive fund pushed through the Legislature by Rick Perry in 2003 with an initial $300 million taxpayer-backed investment has been criticized for a lack of transparency and for helping import politically connected firms like Cabela’s to compete against existing local businesses.
Cabela’s has come up short of its job-creation targets for three years running and is late with its latest report. A recent study found that one of every three companies pocketing the state incentive money has failed to create the number of jobs originally promised or even laid off workers.
Among the fund’s controversial decisions is a 2004 Christmastime grant of $20 million to Countrywide Financial, a major lender at the center of the current subprime mortgage lending crisis.
The Man’s Bob Elder updates the story of corporations that have received taxpayer-funded incentives from Rick Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund and then ignored the state deadline for filing required employment report.
“Of the 42 companies that have received money… 11 have missed their deadline,” Elder writes. “That’s a high percentage of companies that have received tax dollars yet haven’t bothered to file their employment-verification reports on tgime with the state.”.
Posted on April 22, 2008 – 10:39 am by APR