Some rural towns in the South, where the chain has mostly focused its expansion, have offered up millions in tax benefits and other incentives to land their own Buc-ee’s.
In Harrison County, Miss.,the government put up $15 million of the $18 million needed to expand a bridge to accommodate a new Buc-ee’s, Bloomberg reported. In San Marcos, Texas, the city has promised Buc-ee’s a 50% rebate on its sales taxes over 15 years, which amounts to $3.2 million in savings, the outlet reported.
And in West Memphis, Ark., the city supplied land worth $3.5 million and pledged another $1.5 million in road and infrastructure improvements to lure the chain. West Memphis will also cut Buc-ee’s tax bill by 65% a year for seven years, saving the company about $800,000 total, Bloomberg reported.
Local governments are giving out major incentives once reserved for factories and other industrial companies to land a Buc-ee’s, with the idea that its higher wages may lift salaries in the area and the company will add to local sales and property taxes. In Calhoun, Ga., city administrator Paul Worley told Bloomberg that Buc-ee’s has increased its sales tax receipts by about 15% monthly.
Yet, giving incentives to a retail chain may not always add as much value as other options, said Greg LeRoy, the executive director of Good Jobs First, which advocates for transparency in economic development incentives to companies.
“Subsidizing retail never makes sense unless you’re bringing food retailing to a food desert,” he told Bloomberg.
The rich get subsidies, and they don’t complain; working people need help and learn how to take care of themselves. When will the working men and women learn they are being taken advantage of?
