Letter to Editor from Greg Gerritt about Stadium Proposal

The talk these days in Rhode Island is that we have to give large real estate tax breaks to speculators looking to build in the 195 lands if we are to get the “development” that will save the Rhode Island economy.  The reality is that give aways to the rich harm economies through promoting greater inequality.

Rhode Island has attempted to jump start its economy forever with targeted tax breaks for “development”.  This subsidy from the working people to the 1% has resulted in nearly nothing good for the people of Rhode Island.  It is time we figured out that subsidizing the rich to build buildings is a waste of money. They get all the beneifit, we get the costs.  If no one can build  buildings in Providence without a tax break, then the whole system is broken and we need a better idea.  My suggestion is ecological healing, growing food on most of the land, and creating tax codes that progressively tax the rich rather than giving everyone else’s money to them.  After Picketty, it is amazing that anyone still buys the fantasy that give ways to the rich brings prosperity to the community.

Greg Gerritt