This weekend the Everett Herald ran pro & con op-ed pieces answering the question: Should Boeing tax breaks be revoked if jobs are cut?
Taking the pro side is Rep. June Robinson, sponsor of HB 2147, a bill to link tax breaks for Boeing with jobs in Washington. Rep. Robinson’s op-ed is published below. The entire piece, including a reader poll on aerospace tax breaks was published on March 15, 2015.
We have a problem. In November 2013, the state Legislature gave Boeing the biggest tax break in history with the promise that it would lead directly to more jobs in the state. But, almost immediately afterward, Boeing began moving jobs out of Washington and the job losses have continued ever since. In fact, recently I learned Boeing has notified another 319 Washington employees that they will be laid off.
If Boeing took the tax break and turned around and created the promised jobs, those jobs would have more than repaid the people of Washington for their generosity. Instead, Boeing cut an estimated 7,000 jobs and sent them out of state while still collecting on all those tax breaks.
This isn’t fair to employees and it isn’t fair to you and me, the taxpayers of Washington.
We have enormous needs in our state. Our schools need funding to be able to provide quality education to our children. Public colleges and universities need support to make a college education affordable for young people and their families. Our mental health system is broken and desperately in need of resources. The list goes on and on.
While our middle-class families are struggling to make ends meet, we simply cannot afford to give away public resources and not receive the agreed upon benefit in return.
I support Boeing. Boeing and Washington state have prospered together for more than 100 years. They make the best airplanes in the world, and good jobs at Boeing support thousands of workers and their families in my legislative district.
However, supporting workers and their families means holding Boeing accountable for the deal we struck.
If you pay a mechanic to fix your car, and they don’t do it, the mechanic doesn’t keep your money, you get a refund. And you can be sure that if an airline refused to pay for planes that Boeing delivered, Boeing would not just shrug and forget about it. Boeing would have their attorneys enforce the deal.
Lawmakers have to stand up for taxpayers and workers and enforce the good faith deal we made.
I believe the people of Washington deserve to be treated fairly, which is why I introduced legislation that will provide accountability for the Boeing tax breaks. House Bill 2147 will tie the tax break to jobs in Washington state. If Boeing jobs leave the state, the tax break will gradually go away. If the jobs stay in Washington, Boeing keeps the tax break. It’s simple and it’s fair.
Opponents will claim that this common sense measure to hold Boeing accountable will force more jobs out of Washington. But Boeing is already moving jobs from Washington to places that have tied tax breaks to jobs like Missouri and South Carolina. Job growth is occurring in these states despite holding Boeing accountable for tax breaks. Washington deserves the same.
We must stand up and demand accountability for all of us. We must demand that Boeing maintains and grows jobs in Washington for the tax breaks they’ve received. For every Boeing job created in Washington, there is a multiplier effect of nearly 2 to 1 in other job creation and economic value. It is this economic growth that justified the tax break back in 2013. Conversely, for every Boeing job that leaves the state, a reverse multiplier is also in effect that results in a net job loss that is greater than the actual number.
Boeing has helped shape Washington, and I would like to believe Boeing wants to work with us to build a strong economy that invests in future generations of aerospace machinists and engineers. But, just as Boeing requires formal contracts with airplane purchasers, we need to get something in writing, so to speak, to make sure that Boeing is holding up their end of the bargain.
It is time to hold Boeing accountable. House Bill 2147 is fair to Boeing and other aerospace companies, fair to workers and fair to taxpayers.