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Tipsheet for "Business track: Finding hidden costs and racial inequality in economic development," a session at the IRE 2023 conference in Orlando on Saturday, June 24, 2023.

Session description: Promising jobs, jobs and more jobs, state and local governments give away as much as $95 billion in taxpayer-funded economic development incentives per year. This panel will explore how overspending on incentives can exacerbate inequality in schools and neighborhoods, propelling racial and income disparities. Reporters will gain new tools for documenting the costs of economic development incentives – including tax increment financing (TIF), Opportunity Zones, film subsidies and others - through publicly available documents including Annual Financial Reports, tax expenditure budgets, and other public records. Government officials are quick to tout the benefits of attracting major companies, but often completely leave out the costs that too often turn a deal into a revenue drainer for local communities. Note: We'll pay special attention to local, state and federal incentives being generously doled out to electric vehicle companies and the semiconductor industry – and how to report out those full stories.

This session is sponsored by Bloomberg. IRE retains control of content, including the topic and speaker selection, for all conference sessions.