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Good Jobs First
@goodjobsfirst.org
Good Jobs First has since 1998 been a leading watchdog on economic development subsidies. We also expose corporate crimes.
site: www.goodjobsfirst.org
trackers: goodjobsfirst.org/databases
newsletter: www.goodjobsfirst.org/subscribe
Especially as states face tough times with looming cuts from the federal government, It's time to end data center subsidies. Shy of that, states must drastically reform and reduce data center subsidies. Read our report:
November 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
NEW: 36 states lavish tax breaks on data centers. But just 11 of those states reveal the names of the companies getting the tax breaks, fewer disclose the value of the tax breaks, and NO state provides both estimated and actual jobs created. 1-
goodjobsfirst.org/cloudy-data-...
November 11, 2025 at 7:21 PM
"According to a @bloomberg.com analysis, wholesale electricity now costs as much as 267% more for a single month than it did five years ago in areas located near significant data center activity."
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
October 1, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Come work with us! We're hiring a full-time (remote) research director and a PT (16 hours) database consultant to help with Subsidy Tracker. Get details and apply here:
goodjobsfirst.org/jobs-and-int...
August 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Here's just *some of the government money Musk's array of companies has received: subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org?company_op=s...
*Excludes consumer credits, government contracts, and other unreported subsidies
August 15, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Big Tech wants to destroy the environment, pay workers pennies, and extract every nickel possible from consumers.
And state and local governments keep rewarding them with new subsidies.
August 6, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Voters reject arena for a THIRD time. This time, voters spoke louder than ever: They don't want their money going to a wealthy developer for a project that won't benefit them.
www.valleycentral.com/valleycentra...
h/t @gpropheter.bsky.social
May 6, 2025 at 2:30 PM
We're hiring a research director! You'll ensure research consistency and standardization, train and support researchers, build and sustain relationships with external partners, and oversee our Subsidy Tracker & Tax Break Tracker databases.
Salary-$95-120K + benefits
goodjobsfirst.org/jobs-and-int...
April 16, 2025 at 4:22 PM
As this reporter notes, a remedy is to require companies that take property tax breaks to waive their right to future tax appeals as long as they're receiving the taxpayer subsidies.

The chart below shows some of the biggest double dippers:
www.thecity.nyc/2025/04/11/h...
April 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Read their full report here: arxiv.org/pdf/2412.06288
March 4, 2025 at 4:02 PM
One of Elon Musk's subsidies was for X in the thriving Atlanta area.

In exchange for $10 million, he promised 24 "retained" jobs.
February 26, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Elon Musk is one of the biggest recipients of government aid.
Nearly two-thirds of Musk's $38 billion in government funding has been promised to his businesses just in the past five years, the story notes.
And Musk's $38 billion in government funding is surely an under-count.
February 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Of the 71 school districts we examined statewide, 17 school districts averaged more than $1,000 lost per student per year. In 2023, 29 districts lost more than $500 per student. 
One school district, Spartanburg School District 5, lost more than $100 million to tax abatements in 2023.
February 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
In 2023, school districts reported tax abatement losses of $541 million, compared to $326 million in losses in 2017. The average net loss per school district grew from $5.3 million in 2017 to $8.9 million in 2023.

Figure 1: Average Net Revenue Loss Per School District, 2017 – 2023
February 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
On average, this lost revenue could have paid for 6,641 more instructors each year, or a mix of hiring and teacher raises to reduce quit rates.
In a state plagued by teacher shortages, this missing money could have made a big difference.
goodjobsfirst.org/the-cost-of-...
February 6, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Class-action lawsuits finalized in 2024 totaled $26.4B.
Major cases include PFAS (forever chemicals), anti-competitive practices, drug safety violations
🔴 2024's largest settlement: 3M to pay $12.5b for nationwide PFAS contamination of public water systems
Explore: violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org
January 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
We've just updated Violation Tracker Global, our newest corporate misconduct database. 🚀
We added Luxembourg and Slovakia, bringing our total to 52 nations. New entries include:
🔴$74M fine against Google in Turkey
🔴$40M fine against Barclays in the UK
violationtrackerglobal.goodjobsfirst.org
December 19, 2024 at 10:42 PM
Our original research, coupled with personalized technical assistance, has been used in campaigns small and big to rein in corporate welfare. We're proud of that.

Your support helps us keep at it!
goodjobsfirst.org/help-us-keep...
December 17, 2024 at 5:15 PM
Our corporate misconduct database, Violation Tracker, has over 44K records and fines totaling $84,458,900,624 against healthcare companies. The cases involve defrauding the govt, introducing unproven drugs, endangering nursing home residents...
violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/summary?offe...
December 13, 2024 at 4:43 PM
"Dan Gilbert is the one of the richest men in the world with wealth in the billions of dollars.
But virtually every development undertaken by Gilbert, arguably Detroit’s leading business investor, has had the support of tax dollars."
www.detroitnews.com/story/opinio...
December 5, 2024 at 9:43 PM
And we continue to expose the problems with data center subsidies, which recently have grown exponentially due to the intense energy demands of AI. Amazon aggressively seeks discounts on water and electricity- ratepayers make up the difference. We’ve alerted folks to that too (so have A+ reporters).
December 3, 2024 at 11:34 PM
Our work on Amazon continues unabated. Last week, we joined #MakeAmazonPay, a global set of actions by 80 organizations demanding Amazon pay its workers a living wage, mitigate harms from its carbon emissions, and stop squeezing communities for ever-more tax breaks.
December 3, 2024 at 11:34 PM
Amazon has gotten more secretive thanks to more public awareness of its deplorable workplace conditions and harmful business practices. But we have an extensive list of subsidies Amazon has extracted in the U.S. (globally, the total is much higher)
🧾: goodjobsfirst.org/amazon-track...
November 26, 2024 at 4:02 PM
In 60 seconds, learn about Violation Tracker Global, which tracks the corporate misconduct of the world's largest countries across 47 countries (and counting!).

At its core, it is a story of recidivism. The world's largest companies break the law no matter where they operate.
November 19, 2024 at 9:52 PM
"According to Good Jobs First...Tesla has been forced to pay nearly $100 million in 73 enforcement actions by the Justice Department, the SEC, the EPA, the Labor Department and OSHA...Good Jobs First's tally shows SpaceX has been penalized $4.2 million..."
www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
November 19, 2024 at 4:18 PM