No Mount Orab Wal-Mart!

Sorry, I had it here somewhere...

One of the big promises that accompanies the selling of a new Wal-Mart to starry-eyed small town officials is the tax lure. Suddenly, Wal-Mart comes to town and with it the gravy train. You’ve got local mayors and county officials dreaming at night of the ways to spend the millions they predict will roll in.

But Wal-Mart doesn’t like paying taxes. Honestly, though, who can blame them? No one likes paying taxes.

The problem is that Wal-Mart promises local governments a big payout, then turns around and delivers something else. I don’t know how you were raised, but my momma told me lying was wrong.

A simple Google search on the words “Wal-Mart” and “taxes” will uncover a litany of scheming that would make a mafioso blanch. Here’s a sampling:

From The Wall Street Journal : Why Wal-Mart Setup Shop in Italy

From The New York Times : Study Says Wal-Mart Fights Local Taxes

From The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel : Wal-Mart Owes Back Taxes, State Says

From Good Jobs First: Rolling Back Property Tax Payments

Fact is, Wal-Mart doesn’t want our community to get its money, and it will find any way it can not to pay the very money it promised those starry-eyed local officials.

Brown County can’t wait to build a new jail with money it longs to get from taxing a new Wal-Mart. Anyone want to guess what happens when the county starts building that jail and then suddenly the funds just ain’t there?

Who goes to jail then?