Chyung: Taxpayer-funded handouts to corporations must be restricted

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Chris Chyung (D-Dyer) today introduced a proposal that would require the government to make public any incentive packages it offers to attract companies to Indiana, through Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s (IEDC) Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit program. The amendment to Senate Bill 272 was voted down with all Republicans voting no.

“This is about transparency for Hoosier taxpayers because public funding is often used when these incentive packages are put together,” Chyung said. “My proposal would require the government and the IEDC to disclose the total dollar amount of the proposal that they put together to the public, after a 3-year period.

“The bottom line is that taxpayers deserve to know when their money is being offered to some of the richest corporations and individuals in the world, who sometimes, pay a lower tax rate than you and me,” said Chyung.

“Oftentimes this offer is to the tune of billions of dollars in corporate socialism, which could have been reinvested back to taxpayers through education, healthcare, refunds and rebuilding our deficient infrastructure.”

In September 2017, Amazon announced that they were accepting proposals for their second headquarters. Over 200 cities competed for Amazon’s HQ2, but only one would win an investment of over $5 billion and 50,000 jobs. Central Indiana and Gary jumped on the opportunity and put together a pitch for Amazon, but, despite facing pressure from media and the public, the incentives offered in the proposal from Central Indiana have not been made public.

Tax Analyst is currently suing IEDC in an attempt to get Central Indiana to disclose what was in their bid for HQ2. Chyung’s amendment is retroactive and would aid in their efforts by forcing IEDC to be transparent with the public and release what was offered in the bid for HQ2.

We’ve learned from reporting by the Indy Star and Reveal that a member of the Holcomb administration coached Amazon to reduce its $28,000 fine for the death of Phillip Lee Terry to prevent any bad blood between the company and Central Indiana, which, at the time, was still competing for HQ2. Elected officials should be required to be transparent with the public so that people can speak out when these deals and incentives are using taxpayer dollars to put wealthy corporations before the people of our states.