Wal-Mart: America’s Tax Deadbeat
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
A report released this week by the non-profit group Good Jobs First, concludes that Wal-Mart methodically works to lower its taxes by challenging the assessed value of its stores and distribution centers. Just as the company has become legendary for shaking down its vendors---so the retailer shakes down cities and towns for tax rebates.
The nonpartisan research center in Washington, D.C. documented in an earlier study how Wal-Mart has benefited from billions of dollars in public subsidies to build its stores and site infrastructure. Their new analysis, Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, charges that although the financial take is not as large as its public welfare subsidies---Wal-Mart “drains vitally needed funds from communities by regularly challenging the valuation put on its properties by public officials.” According to Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First, “When the company succeeds in one of these challenges, it diminishes the funds available to pay for education, police and fire protection, and other essential services provided by local governments.”
Good Jobs First reviewed a national sample of Wal-Mart stores and all of its distribution centers open as of the beginning of 2005. Wal-Mart has filed assessment challenges at more than one-third of its facilities around the country. At many facilities there have been appeals in multiple years. Overall, Good Jobs First estimates that Wal-Mart filed more than 2,100 property tax challenges nationwide. “These systematic property tax challenges are part of a larger pattern of state and local tax avoidance by Wal-Mart,” Mattera explained.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, October 16 | 23 comments | Permalink
Food Outbreak [Minn.
Cargill Sued Over Minnesota E. Coli Outbreak 
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. agribusiness Cargill Inc
is being sued by a Minnesota family whose two children suffered E. coli infections after consuming the company’s frozen ground beef products, the family’s attorney, William Marler, said on Monday. Cargill said it had no comment on the lawsuit at this time, said spokesman Mark Klein.
Earlier this month, Cargill recalled 844,812 lbs of frozen beef patties due to possible E. coli contamination after investigators found four cases of illness linked to meat prepared by Cargill and sold by a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc
in Minnesota. Symptoms of E. coli 0157:H7 illness—the strain associated with the recall—include potentially severe stomach cramps and diarrhea.
Posted by Andrew Yonki on Tuesday, October 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
St. Peters, MO. Wal-Mart Contract Glitch Stops At Pearly Gates
There are 11 Wal-Mart’s within 20 miles of St. Peters, Missouri. The supercenter in Wood River, Illinois is only 5 miles away---and St. Peters already has a Wal-Mart discount store on Jungerman Road. This 22 square mile community of roughly 58,000 people, located 30 miles west of St. Louis, has paid its dues to sprawl-—yet Wal-Mart wants a bigger share of the market. But according to the Wentzville Journal, Wal-Mart’s supercenter plans for St. Peters may never reach the Pearly Gates. Mayor Len Pagano told the newspaper several days ago, “I have not been told anything officially, but it is my understanding that Wal-Mart (officials) are reviewing their expansion strategy.” The 203,710 s.f. supercenter proposal on 37.5 acres of land has apparently gotten snagged over contract issues. “We remain very interested in the site and look forward to coming to St. Peters with a new store. However, with this particular site there were some issues with the contract and the deal,” a Wal-Mart spokeswoman told the Journal. “We unfortunately fell out of contract and are working at this time to again see what we can do.” The land is owned by a company called Executive Realty, and the developer is THF Realty. The landowner and the developer could not come to terms, leaving Wal-Mart caught in the middle. THF is the same company that pulled its Wal-Mart plans from North St. Louis in 2002, that bulldozed an entire neighborhood of 200 homes for a Wal-Mart in Maplewood, Missouri in 2002, that threatened homeowners with eminent domain in Wheeling, West Virginia in 2003, and that was fined for violating the Clean Water Act by the EPA in 2007 in Columbia, Missouri.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, October 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
St. Peters, Mo.- Contract Issue Stalls Wal-Mart Plans
Plans stall for Wal-Mart Supercenter
Spokeswoman says developer is experiencing contract issues .
Plans for a controversial Wal-Mart Supercenter at Spencer and Mexico roads in St. Peters appear dead - for now.
“I have not been told anything officially, but it is my understanding that Wal-Mart (officials) are reviewing their expansion strategy,” St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano said Thursday.
Plans called for a 203,710-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, which would have included a grocery section, and separate 28,000-square-foot and 6,000-square-foot retail buildings, four outlots for future development and about 950 parking spaces.
The development was planned for a 37.5-acre parcel and would have wrapped around an existing McDonald’s restaurant at Mexico and Spencer roads.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Monday, October 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
Clinton Twp, Mich.- Town, Builder to Square Off
Wal-Mart dispute in court today
Clinton Township, builder square off. 
The battle of placing a Wal-Mart shopping center along M-59 in Clinton Township returns to court today with confusion over who filed the legal challenge and what impact a verdict would have.
John Carlo Development filed the motion in Macomb County Circuit Court asking for the enforcement of a previous court order to allow the property to be developed. The Carlo company currently owns the land where the complex is planned.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Monday, October 15 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Class Action Suits
Wal-Mart Worker Class Actions Best of Bad Remedies
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg)—A short-haired, heavyset woman of 59, rings flashing from every finger and both thumbs, glares from the witness stand at a conservatively suited, confident young lawyer who is trying to rip apart her case against the largest retailer in the world.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s labor practices are on trial, again, this time in the three-river town of Hastings, Minnesota. Plaintiffs, granted class-action status, say the company stole time from some 56,000 hourly workers at Minnesota Wal-Marts and Sam’s Clubs by making them work off the clock.
Screens around the courtroom display time records for Dec. 26, 2000. They show the witness clocked out for lunch at 2 p.m. and clocked back in precisely 30 minutes later, the maximum Wal- Mart allowed.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, October 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
North Towne, OH City Council Preemptively Says “No”
Ball: Wal-Mart is not right for North Towne [Toledo (OH) Blade]
David Ball, a candidate for City Council District 6 representing Point Place, North Toledo, and part of West Toledo, yesterday opposed a purported plan by Wal-Mart to redevelop the former North Towne Square Mall on Alexis Road.
No application has been made to the city to rezone or redevelop the former mall, now called Lakeside Centre, and Wal-Mart officials yesterday did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Mr. Ball, a political independent who has the Green Party’s endorsement, said Alexis has enough retail businesses already, and that Toledo in general is overly concerned with attracting retail business.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Thursday, October 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Clinton Twp., MI. Wal-Mart Stalled, Developer Sues
Clinton Twp. developer to sue over planned Wal-Mart [Detroit Free Press]
A Clinton Township developer who owns land planned for a Wal-Mart is taking the community to court.
John Carlo, Inc. filed a motion Friday in Macomb County Circuit Court. The builder will go before Judge Donald Miller Monday in an attempt to have the township approve the discount retailer’s site plans, Township lawyer Jack Dolan said today.
Citing traffic concerns, township officials previously asked Wal-Mart to install a boulevard leading from the property onto Romeo Plank Road. They then bounced the site plans back to the Planning Commission, which has yet to review them again.
On behalf of the company, lawyer Thomas Kalas said last month the township’s “decision is wrong. It violates the law, but they’re obviously trying to keep Wal-Mart from building a store there.”
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, October 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
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