Eliminate Corporate Subsidies

Conservative billionaire Charles Koch told his ultra-rich friends that they face a “life and death” decision whether to keep lobbying for tax breaks and government subsidies.

It’s that time of year again, when Republicans and Democrats put aside their differences to dole out gifts of corporate welfare to a lucky few.

Corporate welfare in the federal budget costs taxpayers almost $100 billion a year.

Corporate welfare or crony capitalism is a destructive force that undermines public trust in the institutions of the free market and in government itself.

Year after year, Congress has renewed a package of temporary tax provisions known as the “tax extenders.” Nearly all of them should be substantially curtailed or allowed to remain expired.

The case for solar isn’t limited to prices and jobs. Consumers want choice. Unfortunately, in most markets around the country, electricity is still one of the few areas where we have virtually no choice over our supplier.

Taxpayer support for shale fracking went far beyond research.

If we are to have a productive discussion of fossil fuel subsidies, it is important that participants understand what they are, their intended purpose, and the projected impact of removing them.

Government efforts are the source of new technological visions for the future.

Subsidy Tracker 3.0 is the first national search engine for economic development subsidies and other forms of government financial assistance to business.

Over the past 15 years, the federal government has provided $68 billion in grants and special tax credits to business, with two-thirds of the total going to large corporations.

Fork over taxpayer cash, or the jobs go elsewhere. That’s the threat behind the bidding wars among corporations, states and cities for factories, offices and other investments.

A searchable database of incentive spending.

Congress let the Export-Import Bank’s lending authority expire after June 30, 2015, but some House Republicans joined Democrats to force a vote in October to bring back the lender.

The Ex-Im bank subsidizes politically connected firms by providing them with below market loans. This can boost exports, but the bank also subsidizes imports, leaving its direct impact on the trade balance uncertain.

For the better part of two years, a group of influential business interests spent hundreds of thousands of dollars pressuring lawmakers to renew the credit export agency that, until recently, was a relatively obscure and uncontroversial provider of loans to foreign buyers purchasing U.S.-made goods.

Vincent H. Smith says farmers should stand on their own. W. Robert Goodman says subsidies are important for food security.

Like so many government programs — what subsidies need is not the ax, but reform that moves them forward.

The database tracks $322 billion in farm subsidies from commodity, crop insurance, disaster programs and conservation payments paid between 1995 and 2014.

Farm subsidies provided by the federal government are supposed to help agricultural producers manage the variations in agricultural production and profitability from year to year - due to variations in weather, market prices, and other factors - while ensuring a stable food supply. In reality, this support is highly skewed toward the five major \"program\" commodities of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice.

The Federal Crop Insurance Program is administered by USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA). The program provides producers with two basic options. They can elect to secure an insurance policy that compensates them if they experience a loss in crop yields or if they experience a decline in revenue.

Michigan’s corporate-tax incentives helped jump-start the state’s lagging economy, officials say, but now those same curative measures are hurting the state’s budget.

A Times investigation has examined and tallied thousands of local incentives granted nationwide and has found that states, counties and cities are giving up more than $80 billion each year to companies.

While most Americans may say oil, gas, and coal companies shouldn’t get taxpayer dollars to help run their business, they are willing to make an exception for alternative energy companies.