Greg LeRoy

Dubbed “the leading [U.S.] national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies,” and “an encyclopedia of information regarding subsidies,” Greg founded and directs Good Jobs First, a research and policy center promoting accountability in economic development. His two books include The Great American Jobs Scam, which Publishers Weekly called ““…a parade of damning case studies showing why communities should not woo corporations with subsidies.” GJF is home to Subsidy Tracker, Tax Break Tracker and Violation Tracker. Violation Tracker captures 20 years of federal and state regulatory penalties; it reveals the U.S. financial services sector to be by far the nation’s most heavily-penalized corporate sector. GJF led the campaign for Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures, a landmark in U.S. municipal finance. It requires all states and most local governments (cities, counties and school districts) to finally disclose how much revenue they lose to corporate tax breaks. It remains the only form of tax expenditure ever codified by GASB.