Wal-Mart, the Alpha Dog of discount stores, has also become the Alpha Hog at the public trough. In many states, taxpayers are supporting the phenomenal growth of the world’s largest corporation through economic development subsidies. A Wal-Mart official once stated that the company seeks subsidies in about a third of its stores, suggesting that more than 1,100 of its U.S. stores are subsidized, according to comments by B. John Besio published in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald. A national survey by my organization, Good Jobs First, in 2004 looked at 160 stores and all of the company’s distribution centers—and found that taxpayers subsidize more than 90 percent. Altogether, 244 subsidized facilities in 35 states received taxpayer deals of more than $1 billion.
