OP-ED: Bass Pro, Costco take more than they give to California town

An opinion-editorial posted yesterday at MantecaBulletin.com analyzes the pretax profits shared by corporations in the community. Target, Wal-Mart and Kohl’s are the heavy hitters, sharing in the ballpark of 4 percent of profits with charities, based on data by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Springfield-based Bass Pro Shops and Costco are among the hoarders, columnist Dennis Wyatt says. While those companies do give back to charities, Wyatt singles them out because of the public monies they've received to open up shop in central California.

“No matter how Bass Pro wants to spin it, they are benefiting from $18 million over 35 years that Manteca opted to give up in sales tax to get them to locate here,” Wyatt writes, acknowledging the vast majority of that sales tax subsidy – given indirectly through retail developers Poag & McEwen – wouldn’t exist without the Bass Pro store in The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley.

In his criticism, Wyatt leans on Pulitzer winning reporter David Cay Johnston’s book, “Free Lunch,” which details how Bass Pro typically receives $10 million to $25 million in concessions from local jurisdictions, indirectly or directly, before it hangs out a shingle.

“Bass Pro or Costco aren't horrible corporate citizens,” Wyatt concludes. “Their giving policies are structured much differently and either not directed locally or if they are – they are at a level much lower than the nonsubsidized businesses in the community. 
If Manteca continues to use tax sharing, elected leaders should insist on philanthropy concessions in exchange.”

For Bass Pro’s part, Wyatt figured at 1 percent a year of what the city gave the outdoor retailer, it would give back $5,142 annually to Manteca nonprofits.

Read more from MantecaBulletin.com.