Public Money for Public Good

Vision

In local fights for clean water and teacher pay in Baton Rouge, early childcare in Grand Rapids, drainage in San Antonio, and wastewater systems in El Paso, elected officials often delivered the same message: there is no money.  Teacher raises, infrastructure and childcare must wait.  Meanwhile, corporations received tax exemptions worth millions – even billions – negotiated with limited public scrutiny and few verified outcomes.

The contradiction raises fundamental questions: Who pays? Who benefits? Are public dollars managed with the discipline taxpayers deserve?

Public revenue, earned by working families and local businesses, is a public trust. When incentives lack performance standards or citizen oversight, governments risk distorting markets, rewarding political access over productivity, and shifting risk onto taxpayers. Communities pay twice, through lost revenue, and again when subsidized jobs fail to sustain families.

Across Texas, Louisiana, and Michigan, West/Southwest IAF affiliates have pushed for incentives that are transparent and performance-based. This work begins with citizens doing their homework. Leaders sit with budgets and development agreements, breaking down complex proposals so neighbors understand what is at stake. By bringing those terms into public view, communities gain the leverage to insist that public subsidies produce measurable returns — including jobs that sustain families, offer benefits, and open pathways for long-term advancement.  These efforts helped secure significant reductions in state industrial tax exemption programs and the adoption of sunshine provisions that restore local control.

Sound markets depend on clear rules and accountable public policy. Economic development rooted in disciplined stewardship has the power to protect taxpayers, strengthen families, and build prosperity for the common good.

Impact

1. Reforming Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP)

   Together Louisiana overhauled ITEP, requiring any company seeking a tax break to achieve local approval and prove quality job creation. Reforms also include a “sunshine provision” that ensures local communities have an opportunity to intervene when state tax breaks impact local budgets.

2. Ending “Blank-Check” Subsidies in Texas

   Texas IAF killed the reauthorization of Chapter 313, a program that funneled billions in Texas taxpayer dollars to primarily out-of-state petroleum interests at the expense of public education.

3. Leveraging Community Benefits in Michigan

   Together West Michigan won a commitment for $20 million in public benefits—including local and minority hiring—from a major luxury development project in Grand Rapids.

4. Protecting Funding for Public Services in Louisiana

   Together Louisiana blocked a proposed constitutional amendment that would have drained hundreds of millions in property tax revenue from the state, ensuring large corporations pay their fair share for public services.