Low Taxes Always – For Wal-Mart - Too Bad for the States
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Rhode Island legislature has introduced a bill to shut down a popular corporate income tax shelter used by Wal-Mart. It is estimated that the tax shelter costs Rhode Island $7 million in revenue. That is money that Rhode Island’s taxpayers have to make up.
John Simley, Wal-Mart spokesperson, said the legislation would add costs to the companies that use them. Put another way, Mr. Simley is saying that if Rhode Island forces Wal-Mart to pay legal taxes the company has already agreed to as a cost of doing business within the state, it will cost the company money.
Wal-Mart should hope that shoppers don’t use the same logic when they are in the stores or they might consider that actually paying for the items rather than stealing them will increase their personal costs.
Posted by David Nassar, Executive Director on Friday, April 27 | 11 comments | Permalink
Knightdale, NC. Judge Rules Against Local Homeowners In Wal-Mart Case
On April 13th, a Superior Court judge in Wake County, North Carolina set back efforts of local residents in Knightdale to block a Wal-Mart superstore from being built far too close for comfort. According to The News & Observer, Judge Henry Barnette Jr. ruled that Knightdale officials did not act improperly last year when they approved the Wal-Mart. The Citizens Against Residential Encroachment (CARE), filed their lawsuit last August, charging that Knightdale officials failed to notify neighbors of public hearings, and gave the developer variances to the town’s ordinances. The residents also charged that one councilor who voted for the project had a conflict of interest. The Judge said none of the plaintiffs were denied the opportunity to be present at any hearing, and the councilman had no substantial financial interest in the project.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, April 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
Charleston, WV. Another Lawsuit Filed in Wal-Mart “Time Shaving” Case
The West Virginia Record newspaper reported this week that another lawsuit has been filed against Wal-Mart, charging the company with stealing from its own workers by not fully crediting them for their hours worked. This practice is known as “time-shaving.” Sprawl-Busters reported on December 20, 2005 that Massachusetts Attorney Robert Bonsignore had charged Wal-Mart with time-shaving, and said the retailer was facing a serious class action lawsuit because of its prevalent “time shaving” violations against its workers. Bonsignore said that Wal-Mart had stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from its workers across the country. “Time shaving” is a form of theft in which the company fails to properly credit its employees for all the time they worked. According to Atty. Bonsignore, “Our case is going well. We have filed in a number of states and have had interest expressed in several more. We have proof that Wal-Mart secretly manipulated the time records of their hourly rate employees, robbing them of about $1,000,000 per year per store. We can prove they did this through objective electronic evidence from 1997 on.” On April 3, 2007, Charleston, West Virginia lawyer Troy Giatras filed suit in U. S. District Court claiming that Wal-Mart shaved minutes from payroll records. In the suit, three former employees at the South Charleston store seek to represent every employee Wal-Mart has stolen time from in West Virginia since 1989.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, April 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Union County, NC. Citizens Tie Wal-Mart Up In Court For Half A Decade
On August 8, 2002, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in Monroe and Union County, North Carolina had successfully kept out a Wal-Mart supercenter by challenging their permit in Superior Court. But the retailer then sued Union County officials in a last ditch effort to get by litigation what they couldn’t get by regulation. Wal-Mart told the Charlotte Observer it had to sue. “It’s not something we were eager to do,” Wal-Mart spokesman Keith Morris said. “It was a very difficult decision, but we felt we had no other options.” Wal-Mart claims it filed suit because they weren’t receiving any response from the county on why a special-use permit was necessary. Fast forward five years, and the scene shifts to a North Carolina Court of Appeals in Raleigh. Citizens have spent more than $250,000 on a fight against the 206,000-square-foot superstore proposed for the Marvin-area. Union County Superior Court ruled in favor of the Wal-Mart opponents and the county, but now the case has come before three appeals judges, who will rule on the case in the next two to four months. If Wal-Mart loses, it could appeal again to the North Carolina Supreme Court. In March of 2006, a Superior Court judge ruled that the Union County Board of Adjustment had improperly awarded Wal-Mart a permit to build their store. The judge in that case found that the Wal-Mart plan approved by the board had been modified significantly from the original proposal, and thus required a new approval process. The Superior Court said the board’s decision to approve the permit “was arbitrary and capricious.” Now Wal-Mart is seeking to overturn that ruling. Wal-Mart claims that residents requested many of the changes made to the store plan, and that such changes did not affect the Wal-Mart’s “character and nature.” But a lawyer for Union County, which supports the residents in their fight against Wal-Mart, said that neither the county nor residents requested any changes. “We wanted the plans denied,” the county attorney said. “Almost everything on this plan moved,” he said. One Appeals court judge asked the county why it was against the decision of its own Board of Adjustment. The county explained that the BOA was an independent quasi-judicial board that made decisions the county itself could not overturn.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, April 03 | 0 comments | Permalink
Atlantic Regional Updates - March 23, 2007
NORTH CAROLINA: TAX TOO HIGH AT LOCAL WAL-MART
Tax was too high at area’s new Wal-Mart [Southeastern North Carolina Star-News]
Wal-Mart shoppers, take out your receipts. The mega-chain might owe you some money...Hudkins said he called the store that night and an employee told him the staff had looked into the issue earlier in the day and determined it was just a display problem, that the cash registers were calculating correctly. But his receipt showed otherwise, and he went back to the store Saturday morning.
MARYLAND SITE FIGHT: STORE OPENING POSTPONED
Wal-Mart Postpones Store Opening in Md. [Washington Post]
Wal-Mart postponed today’s anticipated opening of its first store inside the Capital Beltway because of last-minute permit problems, the company said yesterday.
The store was scheduled to open this morning, complete with a ribbon-cutting and news conference to be attended by high-level executives from Wal-Mart and several local officials. A new date has not been set.
MARYLAND PROTESTORS PLAN TO GIVE WAL-MART A COLD WELCOME
Community, Labor, Faith-Based Leaders to ‘Welcome’ Wal-Mart to Prince George’s County [PR Newswire]
A broad-based group of Prince George’s County community leaders, union members, clergy and members of area congregations will hold a press conference to “welcome” a newly-opening Wal-Mart to the Capital Plaza Mall and urge the world’s largest retailer to become a responsible, community-minded corporate citizen.
They will call on Wal-Mart to provide its workers with health benefits, stop burdening Maryland taxpayers with $27 million in the cost of providing care to the company’s employees, and
stop burdening Prince George’s County Hospital Center with the cost of uncompensated care.
MARYLAND SITE FIGHT: STORE OPENING POSTPONED
Wal-Mart delays opening of Prince George’s store [Baltimore Business Journal]
Wal-Mart’s first store inside the Washington Beltway will open a bit later than expected.
Officials with Wal-Mart are still working out permitting issues for the 144,000-square-foot store, which was slated to open Wednesday. The new store is expected to employ about 330 people.
MARYLAND SITE FIGHT: STORE OPENS QUIETLY
Without Fanfare, Wal-Mart Opens in Landover Hills [Washington Post]
Wal-Mart quietly opened its first store inside the Beltway yesterday after permit problems forced the retailer to cancel a grand-opening celebration earlier in the week.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, March 23 | 0 comments | Permalink
Maryland Store Opening Postponed
The Washington Post reports that:
Wal-Mart postponed today’s anticipated opening of its first store inside the Capital Beltway because of last-minute permit problems, the company said yesterday.
The store was scheduled to open this morning, complete with a ribbon-cutting and news conference to be attended by high-level executives from Wal-Mart and several local officials. A new date has not been set.
“With the continued support of all of the county agencies, we are diligently working to finalize the necessary requirements and approvals to open as soon as we can,” Restivo said. “We look forward to serving the community very soon.”
The store is strategically important to Wal-Mart, which is seeking to open more locations in urban areas to boost sluggish sales and woo new shoppers. But labor groups have vehemently opposed those moves, criticizing the nation’s largest retailer for its health benefits and wages and saying it runs mom-and-pop shops out of business. Wal-Mart stores are not unionized.
It is particularly interesting to note that several local community groups had planned to turn out for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, March 22 | 0 comments | Permalink
Atlantic Regional News Update: March 16, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART PRAISED, OPPOSED
Wal-Mart praised, opposed [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
Wal-Mart Corp.’s decision to locate a store at the site of the former East Hills Shopping Center underscores a story of substantial growth in Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh region. Like it or not—and there is a variety of opinion on the company’s effect on local businesses—there’s no doubt that Wal-Mart has established a substantial presence in Pennsylvania in a relatively short period of time.
PENNSYLVANIA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART WANTS TO TALK
Wal-Mart wants to talk with Ross [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Wal-Mart wants to talk with Ross officials about stop lights or other street improvements before it does any more planning for a store on busy McKnight Road.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, March 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Atlantic Regional News Updates:
NORTH CAROLINA SITE FIGHT: LOCUST APPROVES WAL-MART
Locust approves Wal-Mart [Albemarle (N.C.) News & Press]
Wal-Mart received the blessings of the Locust City Council Thursday night to build a new SuperCenter store near the Crutchfield Campus of Stanly Community College. The council split on approval and cast a 5-2 vote with councilmembers Charlie Hinson and Ray Smith dissenting.
VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: JUDGE CONSIDERS WHETHER TO DISMISS SUIT
Judge considers whether to dismiss Wal-Mart lawsuit [Roanoke (Va.) Times]
A group of Roanoke County landowners fighting the location of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in their neighborhood will have to wait awhile longer to know whether a court will hear their plea.
NEW JERSEY SITE FIGHT: RILING UP RESIDENTS
Plan to build Wal-Mart, Wawa riles up residents [New Jersey Express-Times]
Plans for a Wal-Mart and more on Route 46 near Upper Sarepta Road were “pie in the sky,” according to the site’s developer.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, March 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
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