Coke Gets TIF, Austin Residents Get Stiffed

According to an excellent article in Austin Talks, Coca-Cola got $3.22 million to build a distribution facility in Austin and only 20 of the facility’s 325 employees are from Austin. Austin activist Dwayne Tuss is quoted as saying “property tax dollars are wrongly diverted from city services, such as fire and police protection, schools and parks, for the benefit of big corporations. He calls it ‘legalized corruption.’ ‘The TIF program is a failure for poor communities and a bonanza for big businesses,’ Truss said. ‘Economic development hasn’t yielded any significant jobs — at least on the West Side.'”