Wal-Mart would bring jobs, tax revenue

-Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Sun-Times reported recently that city council and union leaders are questioning the timing of Ald. Howard Brookins plea for a vote to build a new Wal-Mart Store in his south side ward. “Why now?,” they ask.

Why now? How about the fact that during the worst economic crisis in over a quarter century, with unemployment in Chicago at 10.7%, Wal-Mart is willing to bring 500 permanent jobs, hundreds of high-paying union construction jobs, and $5 million in sales tax revenue alone to our cash-strapped city coffers? Or that a south side Wal-Mart would provide quality groceries and fresh produce to residents living in a food desert to help alleviate the scourge of chronic disease plaguing our poorest neighborhoods?

While union leaders continue to trash the state’s largest private employer and threaten retaliation, they fail to recognize that the equivalent of 80 city jobs could be saved with the sales tax revenue generated from a south side Wal-Mart store. Instead, they demand a 50% income tax increase on working families during a recession and reject an economic development project that will generate revenue without reaching into the pockets of hard-working Chicagoans. This type of public policy will only hinder efforts to get our economy back on track.

Wal-Mart’s wages and employee benefits exceed the retail industry standard. They have a proven track record of supporting the communities they serve. The lone Chicago Wal-Mart Store on the west side is deemed a success by whatever standard you apply.

Opponents of a south side Wal-Mart Store are clearly out of touch with the will of area residents who want access to the jobs and opportunities it would bring. South side residents demonstrate their support for Wal-Mart by spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually at locations just outside the city limits.

It’s their community. It’s their choice. The city council should vote to approve a south side Wal-Mart now.

Jerry Roper
President & CEO
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce

-Link to the Letter to the Editor on the Chicago Sun Times website.