WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000,00 to Support its Employees

[Earth_First]

•"The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year - about $2,103 per employee. Specifically, the low wages result in the following additional public costs being passed along to taxpayers:
◦$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
◦$42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
◦$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
◦$100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of 2 children.
◦$108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children's health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
◦$9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance."

•The total figure is based on the average $420,750 per-store figure, multiplied by 3700 (the approximate number of stores currently in the United States).

•Source: Rep. George Miller / Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, "Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart", February 16, 2004.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

[crazylikafox]

1. Perfect summary. Big kick to the greatest page

[plumbob]

2. Excellent!

Buying it for my classroom.

[Earth_First]

5. +1

This should be required viewing for every American.

[russspeakeasy]

19. About 50% wouldn't get it.

[dotymed]

76. Hell, 80%

including employees would say "at least they've got a job."

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.......at slave wages.....wakeup America. We deserve so much better than this.

[underpants]

3. Pages 9-10 from a PDF linked on that site - Walmart doesn't pay property tax

http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf

[Earth_First]

4. Here's another good one: The WALTON FAMILY received a federal tax cut of: $91,500.00 per HOUR in '04

:crazy:

[Terra Alta]

28. and here I am working at Wally World for going on seven years now

and I'm still not making $10 an hour.

Makes me sick just to think about it.

[Uben]

79. They're starting employees at $10/hr here

I bet it chaps your ass, but they have to start them off at a higher wage here to get employees. We had a casino built nearby that was taking all their employees and giving them full time jobs with good benefits and about $2/hr higher starting wages. I'm sure it pissed Wally World off to have to do it, but they had no choice if they wanted to keep the doors open.

The billionaires in this country are despicable human beings. All of them. How can a real American sit back and horde untold wealth on the backs of their poor employees? There should be a death sentence for shit like that. And when people start to act against these greed mongers, they will wonder why, because they don't even realize what they have done to our country.

NExt time any of you go to Walmart, tell the manager he is a despicable human being for being a slave master. I just flip the motherfucker off everytime I pass his office.

[NotThisTime]

81. I don't step foot into a Walmart, I try to keep my purchases local

[NYC_SKP]

6. Exactly. What isn't covered at by employers is covered by us eventually, and...

sometimes in the form of disease care instead of health care, and at higher prices and greater sadness.

[BlueJazz]

7. Yeah, some mornings when I go get coffee, I pass by a Walmart and see the Employees..

...doing the "We love Walmart" dance and Whoopee bullshit. (That the management forces them to do)

Turns my stomach :puke:

[jmowreader]

42. I'm surprised that manager hasn't been fired yet

Every second the employees are doing the "We Love Walmart" dance and the "Walmart Cheer" is a second they're not on the floor putting merchandise on the shelves. I go to Walmart sometimes and I've never seen it.

OTOH, stores that aren't open 24/7 like Walmart is still do it.

[jp11]

8. No need to worry, THIS is what republicans are fighting to end so taxpayers

won't be footing the bill for any of that anymore then those people can get more jobs or just die in poverty somewhere out of sight.

[fredamae]

9. I'm buying this for my "group" and will

"set it free" in my community!

[indepat]

10. Wal-Mart would seem to be a mammoth welfare-queen par excellence

:patriot:

[toddwv]

11. The bad thing is that the right will see this as a reason to eliminate welfare funding.

They've got some pretty twisted logic working...

[Earth_First]

12. Methinks you are correct...

It will be an unfortunate example of twisted logic for sure.

[dotymed]

78. Many of the Wal Mart employees I know are

"RW Conservatives." They have been so propagandized, (mostly) uneducated as to reality that they are proud to have a pay-nothing job. Even if they rely on food stamps, have no or very little medical/dental coverage etc...Now if you asked them if they "thought" they might win the lottery one day, they'd say "I plan on it." It is unbelievable how a corporate owned MSM, lying politicians and yes, many organized religions, keep these people oppressed and ignorant of the facts.

That is "the plan."

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. k&r

[Generic Other]

14. Full-time workers should not be eligible for welfare

Their employers should be fined for every dollar the government must supply. Like child support.

[blondeatlast]

15. Absolutely. The only problem with that is WM can squeeze out of that

one by classifying "full time" as 32 hours or some such nonsense--and it will save them money to lobby for such legislation rather than buck up and treat their employees decently.

[hfojvt]

22. most of the programs listed are not 'welfare'

SCHIP, reduced price school lunches, the Earned Income Tax Credit - none of that is welfare, unless welfare is broadly defined.

As for section 8. Lots of people may qualify for that, but waiting lists are said to be very, very long.

[caseymoz]

90. I believe he probably thinks of all that as welfare

but let him answer if that's not true.

[caseymoz]

89. You're right, maybe grinding the heel into the neck of the poor solves everything.

Don't just kick a man when he's down, strangle him, too. Just make sure Wal Mart makes its well-deserved profits for doing . . ? for making a profit on those progressively more impoverished worker-consumers.

Is that where you're going?

WM depends on people like the workers they won't pay and won't allow to unionize for their profits, and if you're going to declare class warfare, there are many more heels around to grind into Wal Mart's neck, and if you press the issue, in a democracy you'll eventually lose. Which leaves fascism.

In which case, no protection from the law is deserved.

But I'll agree with one thing: nobody should be working for Wal Mart. Let them automate.

[Honeycombe8]

16. But....where are the stats to show that WM employees get paid less than they would if they

worked in small, local retail shops? Those small, local retail shops wouldn't be able to afford to provide insurance benefits at all (I know from personal experience). And they would get paid minimum wage, with minor increases, as the employees stayed longer and longer (no one does....they work at small retail shops temporarily while seeking to improve their lot in life, so they move on to better paying jobs when they get the training or education; if they are in retail as a career, they work for large retail stores, like Macys, Dillards, Penney's, etc.)

It's possible WM employees do get paid less. I'm just saying that that is the key fact left out of the article.

[NNN0LHI]

17. Shoe salespeople used to make a decent living in small local retail shops

Until Walmart put them out of business.

Its the chicken and the egg thing.

Don

[hfojvt]

26. perhaps, and I knew a guy making $9 an hour at a grocery story

in the 1980s. Or maybe it was $8 an hour. This was in 1984. In 1985, when I graduated from college, I took a government job and GS-7 was paying $8.57 an hour. I actually took the job for GS-5 pay which would have been $2 an hour less, but my first paycheck was GS-7. I didn't complain. Perhaps my higher grades qualified me to be a GS-7 instead of a 5. Point is, here was a college graduate accepting a $7 an hour job when a college student is making $8 an hour working at a grocery store.

Hard to remember though, since we have lived most of our lives in a post wal-mart world. I remember in the late 1980s, there was a big fight in my little town to get a mall opened up. Many of the people in town wanted the mall, and the K-mart that came with it. The Chamber of Commerce, the richest people in town, didn't want the mall, but many residents were driving four hours to shop in Sioux Falls. I also remember it was a big deal to get the Christmas catalogs from Sears, Montgomery Wards and JCPenneys. As kids we used to page through them and pick out things we wanted. That was how we shopped even though there was a Penneys downtown I think, although I really just remember the one at the mall.

At that time, I had never heard of Wal-mart. The first Wal-mart I saw was in a small town in Wisconsin in 1987 when I moved there. I figured Wal-mart was just a smaller copy of K-mart. Never heard of Wal-mart when I was going to University for 5 years in Minneapolis either.

[BOHICA12]

52. My last pair of US made shoes ...

... was $140,nothing special - black work shoes (not dress). If they were the only game, the price would go down, but only by so much.

Wal*Mart didn't do it - the world labor market, wanting what we have shown them through our media and culture forced the shoe industry out of the U.S.

[Honeycombe8]

60. That's interesting, but not a stat. And how much does Wal-Mart pay?

Maybe WM does pay less, but I do find it hard to believe that WM pays less than small local retail shops. I've worked at retail shops a time or two...they paid squat. And had no benefits. The owners are not bazillionaires; they can't afford to pay much or provide benefits. They are small businesses.

[xmas74]

65. I know someone who's son started there eight months' ago.

He makes $7.30 an hour. State minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The local family owned grocery store pays $8.25 an hour to start but it's hard to get a job there.

[SOS]

83. A little anecdotal wage history...

In 1978 I was making $5 an hour as a book store clerk.
In 1987 I was making $12 an hour as a book store clerk (assistant manager)
In 1990 I was making $15 an hour as a book store clerk (manager).

Here it is, 20-30 years later, and adults are still working for $8.
It's insane.
Everything has tripled in cost since those days and the wages haven't gone up at all.

Given today's costs (housing, health, transportation, education etc) I really cannot fathom how people are making ends meet.

[xmas74]

93. And he's supporting a wife and a newborn at home.

I don't make much more. In the past few years I've had my income slashed by nearly 2/3. I don't think I'll make it much longer.

[wickerwoman]

74. The local mom-and-pop shop owner isn't splittling an $80 billion dollar inheritance between his kids

Walmart can afford to pay its workers more than it does and give them decent benefits. But it's so much easier to let taxpayers pick up the bill and laugh all the way to the bank. That's the point of the OP.

[hfojvt]

23. according to workers at Dollar General

they make less there than Wal-mart and there are 8,000 Dollar General stores. The same calculations could probably be done for McDonalds workers, or Subway, or Wendys, or Burger King.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Yes, and it should be done for all of those chains, but Walmart is the 500 lb. gorilla.

If Walmart changed its corporate behavior, some of the other players would eventually be compelled to do the same in order to retain workers. Of course, a more direct approach would simply be to legislate that employers pay more in wages and benefits to employees or face much steeper corporate taxes to pay back the government.

[zaj]

18. You can see why Republicans want to cut those programs, now can't you?

/snark

[Truth2Tell]

20. Either you are missing a zero, or

you have your commas in the wrong places. Is this 1.5 trillion Dollars? Or 155 billion Dollars?

I would rec this OP, but I can't condone such poor numerology.

[Earth_First]

33. Yes, you are correct...

The two zeros at the end are error, however the editing period had expired for this OP.

[Courtesy Flush]

43. Whew! I was about to call total bullshit.

but the revised number seems plausible.

[Populist_Prole]

21. Working class cutting their own throats by shopping there

I just cannot wrap my mind around the fact how many of my fellow working class peers just can't connect the dots.

At work, these same people who ( rightly ) bemoan how wages earners are being crushed by the rich and how they're losing ground still go to Walmart. I mean, that's all I ever hear when the subject is goods of some sort. Walmart this, Walmart that, Walmart Walmart Walmart. It's like it's the only retail establishment on the planet. Indeed, it seems one can hardly hear them speak without them referring to what they bought, or need to, or want to buy at Walmart. Like heroine addicts that realize they're killing themselves...but the next "fix" feels so good they just blow off the long term thinking.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

61. Some of us do not have any other choices.

I'm 20 miles from the nearest Walmart.
My town does not have a grocery store. Walmart killed it.

The only chain stores we have are a Dollar General and a Subway sandwich shop.

The nearest Target is 60 miles away.

The nearest Costco is 150 miles away.

:shrug:

[xmas74]

66. It's the only game in town

if something besides groceries are needed. I shop locally for groceries but some things are Walmart, such as socks and panties for the kid.

I sold my vehicle last year because I needed the money and I can't depend on others to drive me an hour to the nearest Target.

[bobbolink]

24. Very good information, thank you. Rec'd

[EC]

25. The repubs

will just say that these employees and their families should just be cut off, that they are working and don't need "government" help at everyone else's expense.


I guess we could reasonably add it the fact that they are so low pay that there are no revenues being made from them, other than FICA too.

[Terra Alta]

27. I work for Wal-mart and many of my co-workers

are using some of these programs.

Meanwhile, the Waltons are living the good life, while most of their employees are barely making ends meet. They could afford to pay us a living wage, they just don't want to.

[sulphurdunn]

32. People like the Waltons

always want more. They never have enough. They project their sense of entitlement and avarice onto their employees. They figure if they give you more you'll just keep wanting more like they do. So, they reckon it's just self-defense to keep you down.

[Terra Alta]

48. most of us would just be happy with a living wage

We want nothing more than to be able to afford our own housing, food, and clothing without government assistance. Especially the employees with kids. I guess that's too much to ask for, though.

[sulphurdunn]

49. I am sorry to say that

it's too much to ask of the Waltons. That's why they're so terrified of unions. Unions are in the business of prying decent wages and working conditions from the grasping clutches of people like the Waltons. Individuals petition with open hands. Unions demand with closed fists.

[Zax2me]

29. This sounds like indictment on too many govt. programs

Not Wal Mart.
Free lunches, reduced lunches, health insurance programs, low income energy assistance, housing assistance, Title 1 expenses, federal tax credits and deductions ....
The way this reads, geez - What the hell else is the tax payer responsible for?!
Expected to see worn tire replacement assistance in there somewhere -

[a2liberal]

34. Sarcasm I hope?

Sorry, sometimes I can't tell

[BOHICA12]

41. I don't think it was .... nt

[xmas74]

67. Ha ha.

I hope this is sarcasm. I'd hope that you don't have something against children having a meal at school when their parents cannot afford to buy it.

[LuckyLib]

30. Yet another reason not to shop there. We're already subsidizing Sam Walton's Big Box Business.

[postatomic]

54. Doesn't matter if you don't shop there

Your taxes are "shopping" there. I won't shop there because of things like this and I watched a documentary on HBO a few years back that sealed the No Shop Zone for me. They are a big cash cow for Wall Street which means they can control and manipulate local, state, and federal government. It's just more of the wonderful cycle of crap we have to endure these days.

[Nye Bevan]

35. But Walmart pays $7,000,000,000.00 in taxes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-employees-pay

And this doesn't even include the income taxes paid by their employees.

So it looks as though taxpayers still come out ahead. Big time.

[newblewtoo]

37. That is a very interesting article

Thank you for posting it. K&R

[BOHICA12]

40. Two sides to a story ....

Thanks

[glinda]

46. Oh please. The communities pick up the tax tab for them for the first few years.

[BOHICA12]

50. Not where I live ....

Wal*Mart filled a void in a rapidly growing community - in an undeveloped county without tax breaks. They took advantage of an opportunity when no one else was entering into the fray.

[glinda]

62. Usually it is a REpublican run area that keeps other businesses out and then selects Walmart. Then

the locals pick up the tab for the roads, sewer, any major construction of lights, etc.... and on top of this while wAlmart gets tax breaks for the first few years, it is made up locally. They suck the life out of everyone.

[xchrom]

36. Recommend

[midnight]

38. So WalMart uses Govt. subsidies... to create jobs...

I wonder how many other businesses/families would/could flourish if they could get the same Walton/Koch govt. subsidies...

[JDPriestly]

39. And don't forget that the Bush tax cuts benefitted the Waltons, the

Walmart heirs, beyond belief.

[jwirr]

44. And this did not account for earned income credit and food stamps.

But it is not just WalMart. Any business paying low wages is relying on the government to subsidize its workers for them so that they have a living wage. This is not new because workers who got welfare years ago also benefited the business world when the welfare did the same thing. The problem is that the business world has never recognized this. They see it as increasing their taxes instead of subsidizing their low income workers.

[glinda]

45. Add the taxes that towns/cities pay for them also to put in sewer, etc... as well as the

tax breaks each new store gets for the first few years paid by the local communities as well as the unemployment they cause by shutting down other businesses.
Walmart is a huge sieve on America. Freeloaders.
Oh and the buildings that they leave empty after they go to build a Super Center. People have to pay to keep those vacant lest any competition comes in.

[LiberalEsto]

85. Don't forget the costs of paving roads, and providing

police, fire and other emergency services that communities provide while giving Mall Wart discounts on their property taxes.

And the Mall Wart owners make even more money with their "dead peasant" insurance. If a Mall Wart employee drops dead, the Waltons collect insurance money. Another reason for them to pay starvation wages.

[dorksied]

47. Absolutely BRILLIANT

If this is the cost for Wal-Mart, I wonder what the costs are for, say, Burger King, McDonalds, and the rest of the 'chain' corporations.

[Sherman A1]

51. Thanks for posting!

It's good to have the line listing.

[ProgressiveATL]

53. Thanks for posting this!

One of the sources referenced is the Atlanta Journal Constitution, has since be purged from AJC's site, but I was able to find it here:

http://replay.web.archive.org/20040401213322/http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0204/27walmart.html

[KoKo]

55. K&R.

[Beth in MN]

56. Lobbying Report of Wal-Mart's VP for Federal and International public affairs

Unbelievable scope of public policy they are influencing through Raymond Bracy - also key figure of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) with Koch and others.

http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=E28301AA-E449-4C45-952A-E90578D427AA

[Plucketeer]

57. ALWAYS - Low Prices - ALWAYS!

You just make up the difference somewhere else!

[ooglymoogly]

58. kr.Hey, you still remember those theater guys; awesome

they were a riot. As far as Wal Mart....ever body knows...everbody knows the dice are loaded... everbody knows the game is fixed...everbody knows the good guys lost.

[defendandprotect]

59. Interesting point -- when capitalism doesn't pay a living wage, taxpayers pay for it --!!

[GreenPartyVoter]

63. And pay, and pay, and pay...

[Kurovski]

64. Wealth moves in one direction in this country, upward to the top percentage of wealth holders.

[valerief]

68. Wow, I guess in Republican-logic-land, that means Wal-Mart deserves a bigger tax break. nt

[Beth in MN]

69. Ever wonder why the big push to lessen gun control in many states?

Walmart Goes Back to the Future with Fabrics, Fishing and Firearms

CEO Mike Duke is trying to shake Walmart out of its negative same-store sales trends by going back to “heritage” categories that helped it achieve success in the chain’s formative years. Among the products Walmart is adding back are fabric, fishing poles and firearms. That last item has caught the attention of numerous media outlets as well as those who advocate on either side of gun control/rights.

http://blogs.forbes.com/retailwire/2011/05/03/walmart-goes-back-to-the-future-with-fabrics-fishing-and-firearms/

[marzipanni]

73. Fabrics? Isn't that a tad high-falutin' ?

Ma and Sis can make dresses out of flour sacks, Pa and Brother can catch a mess of catfish or shoot a possum for dinner.

[Tripod]

70. k&r...at least they are working!

It is cheaper then paying them to not work.

[WCGreen]

71. It's the double edged sword of the Earned Income Credit....

It is there to help people to make enough to get by and it also keeps the pressure off companies such as Walmart to increase their pay rates.

The thing is the Earned Income Tax Credit doesn't kick in for single people until they are 25. Kids with children are eligible to get the credit for the kids but not for themselves.

I have mixed feelings about this.

If they get rid of the EIC, then perhaps the Walmarts of the world would gradually start to pay more.

Yea and monkeys might fly out of my ass.

Then the thing about the EIC is that most people take it in a lump sum in the form of a Tax Refund instead of having it added to their pay throughout the year. Then these folks who are desperate for that Big Check go to tax preparers who extend the customer quick loans that cost the tax payer at least a couple of hundred dollars. And this is just to speed up the process by a couple of days.

I don't know, it bothers the hell out of me, what this country has become, people nickle and diming and scrounging around while the rich sit back and laugh...

[iwishiwas]

72. We in Wisconsin are soon to not have the Earned Income tax credit as

Walker and his poodles will pass a bill shortly to smash it.

[WCGreen]

92. It would be the Wisconson version the federal version they can't

do anything about...

[xmas74]

94. I refuse to rapid refund anything

but I do take the payment in one lump sum. I use that payment to make one big payment at once. (Insurance is an example.) I've noticed that some things, such as insurance and my internet, are cheaper if I pay all at once so I do this once a year. (Insurance is twice a year.)

A friend owns a trailer and lives in a court. If she pays her lot rent once a year in a lump sum they knock off two months of rent. She also uses her refund to purchase animals from a local farmer and pays for processing months in advance with a locker. That way, come September or October, the farmer takes the animal to the locker and they process it. It's paid way in advance and they give her the cheapest rate in the area.

Should we have to live like this, trying to scrape by? NO, but we've all learned to manage.

[WCGreen]

95. I don't charge extra for a e filing.

I think the main obstacle for many people to explore rapid refunds in a less costly way is that many folks haven't a checking or saving account in which to receive the edeposit.

[aquart]

75. Any corporation that declares a profit that debits the nation is a parasite.

And should be treated accordingly.

[Faux pas]

77. A-m-a-z-i-n-g but not too surprising. Capitalism ain't cheap

for we lowly taxpayers.

[rdking647]

80. so what your solution?

tell wal mart to pay its employees more than it does?? then walmart will just hire less people.
a minimum wage wal mart job is still better than no job

[DaveJ]

82. Is Walmart the only employer where you live?

"wal mart job is still better than no job" Are those the only options?

[SOS]

87. Raise the minimum back to the 1968 level

To equal the 1968 buying power the minimum needs to be raised to $8.54
Of the ten richest Americans, five are the children of Sam Walton at $18 billion each.
Wal Mart could pay 1968-level wages, but you can be sure they would "lobby" against any increase.

[DaveJ]

84. Might I suggest company labelling

Just like food labeling, an info sheet at the front of every store that uses wage slaves. This is only fair to the tax payers.

[caseymoz]

86. Not even counting the tax credits from the community

. . . awarding Wal Mart for giving people the honor of working in their stores.

People in our society have taken their eye off the ball. The object is to support yourself and family. Having a job is just a means to do it, not the goal in itself. It really does nobody any service to have a job that's going to cost you, especially when the community and state pays through the nose to bring those jobs in.

[Zorra]

88. If no one shopped at Walmart this would not be a problem. nt

[patrice]

91. K&R