[Shadow_Group] Fw: Wal-Mart's Free Ride

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Liberty Forum.

Category: News & Opinion (General)  Topic: Business & Economy 
   Synopsis:  
   Source: www.madison.com<http://www.madison.com/> 
   Published: November 11, 2004  Author:  
   For Education and Discussion Only.  Not for Commercial Use. 


Editorial: Wal-Mart's Free Ride 

November 11, 2004 

How Does Wal-Mart Keep Prices So Low? 

Taxpayer Subsidies, That's How. 

Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retail chain that is now the nation's
largest employer, has a dramatic advantage when it builds a store in a
Wisconsin community and then starts charging dramatically lower prices
than hometown businesses. 

Wal-Mart is able to charge those low prices in part because the company
does not pay a living wage to most of its workers. But the company really
cleans up in the area of benefits; instead of paying for health insurance
for its employees, as homegrown Wisconsin retailers do, Wal-Mart steers
those employees into the BadgerCare and Medicaid programs. 

With Wisconsin and federal taxpayers picking up the tab, Wal-Mart can
keep prices low enough to run more responsible retailers out of business.


And a hefty tab it is! 

According to figures obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Health and
Family Services, the annual cost to taxpayers for health care coverage
for Wal-Mart employees and their families is $4.75 million. Of that, the
state covers $1.8 million, while the remainder comes from the federal
treasury. (The feds split the costs of BadgerCare and Medicaid with the
state.) 

The current enrollment of Wal-Mart employees and their relatives in
BadgerCare is 1,175 adults and 638 children. Another 1,952 children of
Wal-Mart employees are insured through the Medicaid program. 

The first thing to remember is that the Wal-Mart employees who are
covered by BadgerCare are not guilty of wrongdoing. They should be
covered, as should their children. 

The problem is not with working Wisconsinites who need health care
coverage. And it is certainly not with their children. 

But BadgerCare and Medicaid cannot afford to carry the burden of
Wal-Mart's corporate irresponsibility forever. 

It is time for state intervention on behalf of Wisconsin's taxpayers. 

What should be done? 

 Wal-Mart and companies like it do not begin to pay their fair share of
taxes into the state treasury. For years, firms doing business in
Wisconsin have paid lower taxes than in virtually any state in the United
States. And under the foolish single-factor tax reform, which was enacted
during the last legislative session and sighed by Gov. Jim Doyle,
corporations were given another huge tax break. Step 1 should be to
reverse the single-factor reform. Then Doyle should work to develop tax
structures that reward companies that create good jobs and pay living
wages and good benefits, while penalizing firms such as Wal-Mart that
fail to meet basic standards. 

 To deal with the specific problem of companies like Wal-Mart, which
shift the burden of providing health care coverage onto the taxpayers,
Wisconsin should enact a law that requires large employers either to
provide affordable, quality health care to all of their employees or to
pay fees to cover the costs to BadgerCare. 

Of course, there will be screams from the apologists for corporate
excess, who will claim that forcing Wal-Mart to pay its fair share will
cost Wisconsin jobs. But that is a false premise. 

Wal-Mart is not cutting back; rather, the retail corporation has embarked
upon an ambitious program of opening new stores across Wisconsin. There
is no danger whatsoever that Wal-Mart is going to cut back in Wisconsin.
In fact, the danger is that the firm will continue to expand at the
current rate, which is too fast for many communities - hence the
widespread opposition to Wal-Mart construction and expansion projects. 

Asking Wal-Mart to pay taxes and meet basic standards will not harm
Wisconsin workers. It will help Wisconsin taxpayers.

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