State and local officials in Missouri are working on the final details of a 10-year plan for tax incentives to Boeing to retain current workers, hire new workers, and expand its already large manufacturing capacity in the St. Louis area. The previous 10-year plan will expire in June 2025, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The organization, Good Jobs First estimates that the subsidies for each new Boeing job in the St. Louis area will total $39,000. However, the question remains, while the subsidies may go to Boeing, is Boeing actually creating any new jobs or is this actually being done by the federal government, as the jobs are fulfilling federal contracts? Boeing has reported adding 1,880 new jobs in the region to fill military contracts for the T-7 training jet, the MQ-25A refueling drone, and the F-15 strike fighter. According to Good Jobs First, the information from this 10-year plan is still too insufficient to make any calculations about any jobs being retained.
On Sept. 19, St. Louis County voted to give Boeing tax incentives of $155 million. While details are sketchy on the new state plan, the state’s last 10-year plan offered $146 million for keeping existing jobs, $78 million for creating at least 2,000 new jobs, and $5 million for job training. The agreement is expected to consist of a plan that Boeing would keep money withheld from state and local income taxes on employees’ payrolls. Boeing is expected to keep 20.5% of the state and local taxes that it collects, however, it is precisely this tax money that funds local schools, roads, and other local services. Boeing could lay off old workers, hire new workers, and still collect most of the subsidies. St. Louis County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy said, “I would love to live in a world where the playing field was level. Unfortunately that’s not the case. To even have a chance of getting this major expansion, the city, the county and the state have to make some economic concessions.”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war the county council meetings have been packed with local residents to protest the incentives, given the fact that Boeing’s products are arming Israel. A second generation Palestinian-American said, “I grew up in [St. Louis] County and I see the way that the school systems are deteriorating. We could be putting these funds into so many better things. Millions of dollars going to Boeing is ridiculous.”
“Boeing either rigs the game or makes sure that the existing game doesn’t apply to them,” said Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and an outspoken Boeing critic. The company routinely manipulates local officials to lobby the federal government on behalf of the company. While the company nickel and dimes state and local governments it has spent over $68 billion in stock buybacks to boost share prices.
