Washington State Representative Offers Warning for Wisconsin on Foxconn

MADISON, Wis. — Today, Paul Ryan travels to Boeing Corporation in Washington to hold another in a series of scripted, invite-only meetings. Boeing is the recipient of massive state tax subsidies that have come under increasing scrutiny as they cut jobs but the state is unable to recover any lost revenue because of a lack of clawback measures.

Washington State Representative Noel Frame, a Democrat from Seattle offered a warning for Wisconsin, saying, “Boeing’s unaccountable tax break has been a disaster for Washington state. Instead of funding schools and creating jobs, we’re giving away billions of dollars while Boeing has laid off more than 13,000 Washingtonians. I hope Wisconsin won’t repeat our mistake by approving the Scott Walker-Paul Ryan Foxconn deal.”

Scott Walker’s attempt to entice Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn to locate a factory in Wisconsin would be the largest subsidy to foreign corporation by a state in history, diverting billions of dollars away from funding for schools, roads and investments in homegrown businesses and entrepreneurs.

In trying to justify this historic giveaway, Walker has pointed to tax breaks provided by Washington state to Boeing after the corporation threatened to move jobs out of the state. But the Boeing tax breaks are under increasing scrutiny as billions of dollars in state revenue are lost amid broken promises to keep jobs.

With no guarantees Wisconsin tax dollars will only go to support Wisconsin jobs, with unprecedented rollbacks of environmental protections, no protections for worker rights and with no specific clawback language if promised investments and job creation fail to materialize Wisconsin taxpayers are not being adequately protected.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross said, “What’s happening in Washington state with Boeing is a warning for Wisconsin about Foxconn. If we don’t learn the lessons of other states and demand accountability as part of any deal with Foxconn it will be our public schools and Main Street businesses paying for Scott Walker’s desperation for generations.”