Anti-Government Candidate Paladino Took Millions In Tax Breaks, Barely Created Jobs
New York’s tea party candidate for governor, the anti-government Carl Paladino, received $3 million in tax breaks from the state with the promise of creating jobs, but created very few.
A Daily News probe found Paladino’s companies netted $3 million in tax breaks through a program called the Empire Zones – while producing a grand total of 25 new jobs.
To justify tax breaks in one instance, he sold a dozen vacant lots he owned to himself and claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in “real property investments.” Seven years later, these “investments” remain what they were – vacant lots.
His Empire Zone investments consisted mostly of renovating his own buildings – $19 million worth. He completed no new construction and brought no new businesses in any of his Empire Zone projects.
Paladino’s response, through his campaign manager Michael Caputo, is he provides office space at good rents for businesses, which enables them to operate at lower costs and thus stimulate the economy. The Daily News reports that many of the tenants are public agencies, and thus are publicly funded leases, so that the rent is actually coming from the government. The Empire Zones program is closed to new participants, and controversy swirls because it is a boon to landlords, while not creating intended jobs.
Some examples of how Paladino’s companies have benefitted:
- Seneca Street Properties Inc. got $423,000 in tax breaks while standing to collect $22.3 million in state rent. It has created four new jobs since 2000 – that’s one every two years.
- Mohawk Group LP invested $423,000 in one office building while collecting $8.3 million in rent from the state and $222,000 in sales tax credits. Eligible for the tax break since 2000, Mohawk created one new job.
- J-P Group got $1.4 million in tax breaks and produced one new job. That property included five vacant lots.
Copyright 2010 Liberaland
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