More on Cudahy’s Wal-Mart

There’s been a lot of controversy recently about the possibility of a Wal-Mart being placed on the site of the failed IcePort development in Cudahy’s downtown area. The Mayor of Cudahy, Ryan McCue, is the subject of a recall effort after voting against allowing the Wal-Mart in Cudahy, despite his previously stated opposition to putting a taxpayer-subsidized Wal-Mart in Cudahy:

I do not think that the City of Cudahy should provide a $12 million tax subsidy to the world’s biggest retailer. Residents may not even see the tax benefits from the development for 20 years.

Throughout the controversy, websites have popped up both in support of the Wal-Mart and and in opposition to it, and there have been a lot of myths, half-truths and outright lies that have been told. Putting aside the issue of whether or not a Wal-Mart in Cudahy would be subsidized by Cudahy’s taxpayers – which I believe it would – there’s still the issue of Wal-Mart’s proven track record of trying to avoid paying its fair share of property taxes:

The Cudahy taxpayers have also been told that Cudahy can rely on Wal-Mart re-paying for this taxpayer subsidy of over $1000 per Cudahy family with the “new taxes” that will be paid by Wal-Mart in the future. First, at the present tax rates it will take Wal-Mart over 30 years before they would even pay off the existing Municipal Bond debt, let alone pay for the fire, police and other services provided by the City. Remember, their Menomonee Falls store did not even last that long, and closed after only 15 years. Second, the citizens of Tomah, Wisconsin also got similar promises from Wal-Mart just a few years ago when they subsidized a new Wal-Mart Distribution Center for multi-millions of tax dollars in their city. The ink on that agreement between Wal-Mart and the City of Tomah had barely dried when, after just a few years, Wal-Mart sued and won a $949,000 property tax refund from the City and a 25% reduction in future tax bills. Wal-Mart did not care that Tomah taxpayers would have an additional 20+ years of payments due on those Municipal Bonds issued for just that Wal Mart development.

For more information on the lengths Wal-Mart has gone to in order to dodge paying its fair share of taxes, click this link.