For the past 20 years, corporations have been receiving huge tax breaks and subsidies in the name of "jobs, jobs, jobs." But, as Greg LeRoy demonstrates in this important new book, it's become a costly scam. Playing states and communities off against each other in a bidding war for jobs, corporations reduce their taxes to next-to-nothing and win subsidy packages that routinely exceed $100,000 per job. But the subsidies come with few strings attached. So companies feel free to provide fewer jobs, or none at all, or even outsource and lay people off. They are also free to pay poverty wages without health care or other benefits. All too often, communities lose twice. They lose jobs--or gain jobs so low-paying they do nothing to help the community--and lose revenue due to the huge corporate tax breaks. That means fewer resources for maintaining schools, public services, and infrastructure. In the end, the local governments that were hoping for economic revitalization are actually worse off. They're forced to raise taxes on struggling small businesses and working families, or reduce services, or both. Greg LeRoy uses up-to-the-minute examples, naming names--including Wal-Mart, Raytheon, Fidelity, Bank of America, Dell, and Boeing--to reveal how the process works. He shows how carefully corporations orchestrate the bidding wars between states and communities. He exposes shadowy "site location consultants" who play both sides against the middle, and he dissects government and corporate mumbo-jumbo with plain talk. The book concludes by offering common-sense reforms that will give taxpayers powerful new tools to deter future abuses and redirect taxpayer investments in ways that will really pay off.

Because of the interaction between the research and development (R&D) expensing provisions and the tax credit, this Portfolio discusses these two issues in parallel. It first considers what types of activities give rise to expenditures that qualify as research and experimental expenditures for current expensing purposes, and then considers what types of activities can give rise to expenditures eligible for the research deduction or tax credit. The Portfolio also discusses several practical and technical issues in claiming the research credit, the basic research tax credit, and various miscellaneous matters. Because of the interaction between the research and development (R&D) expensing provisions and the tax credit, this Portfolio discusses these two issues in parallel. It first considers what types of activities give rise to expenditures that qualify as research and experimental expenditures for current expensing purposes, and then considers what types of activities can give rise to expenditures eligible for the research deduction or tax credit. The Portfolio also discusses several practical and technical issues in claiming the research credit, the basic research tax credit, and various miscellaneous matters. Because of the interaction between the research and development (R&D) expensing provisions and the tax credit, this Portfolio discusses these two issues in parallel. It first considers what types of activities give rise to expenditures that qualify as research and experimental expenditures for current expensing purposes, and then considers what types of activities can give rise to expenditures eligible for the research deduction or tax credit. The Portfolio also discusses several practical and technical issues in claiming the research credit, the basic research tax credit, and various miscellaneous matters.