Backing Away From The Public Trough

Corporate welfare whore D.R. Horton rescinded its request that the City of Fort Worth grant them up to $86,000,000.00 in sales tax breaks on Tuesday. As I previously posed, the scheme called for the city to kickback 1% of Horton's sales tax bill. As hard as it is to believe, some members of the Fort Worth City Council finally found a corporate give-away program that they didn't like. Some leaders questioned the scheme, since it didn't call for any new construction, or new employees in Cowtown. Among the critics were Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Silcox who the Star-Telegram quoted as saying, "It's a matter of principle that a company that made nearly $1 billion in profit last year didn't want to pay taxes, they didn't want to pay their fair share."

Cowtown Council-lady Wendy Davis, whose district just happens to include Hortons's swank, downtown headquarters, said the city lost free money that could have helped buy new police cars, fund a crime lab or build new police storefronts. Davis was referring the crime tax, which Horton would have paid on its sales. The crime tax is the extra sales tax we Cowtowners have to pay because the city council refuses to fulfill its duty to adequately fund the police department. One would think those kind of crime fighting tools would be a top priority for city leaders without the supposed "free money". But this is the same bunch that spent $50,000.00 on a park for dogs, so one can never be sure.