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Fact Sheet on Wal-Mart: The Death Star of American Commerce Wal-Mart's True Cost to Taxpayers "Because Wal-Mart fails to pay sufficient wages, U.S. taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab. In this sense, Wal-Mart's profits are not only made only on the backs of its employees-but on the [back] of every U.S. taxpayer." Representative George Miller (CA) The cost of a single Wal-Mart " $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 additional Title I expenses, assuming fifty Wal-Mart families
qualify with an average of two children " $108,000 a year for the
additional federal health care costs of moving into state children's health insurance…assuming
30 employees with an average of two children qualifying " 9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance (1) Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart," a report by the Democratic staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, February 16, 2004, http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/WALMARTREPORT.pdf What Wal-Mart gets from your local, state, and federal tax dollars "
Free or reduced-price land Good Jobs First, Walmarts' U.S. Expansion has Benefited from More Than $1 Billion in Economic Development Subsidies http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf Wal-Mart and food " Wal-Mart started selling groceries in 1988 and 15 years
later it is now the largest distributor of food in the world. "
Wal-Mart gets 68 cents of every food dollar spend in the United States, with 30
cents going to marketing, transportation and packaging. Farmers get 2 cents of
every food dollar. " For every one Supercenter that will open,
two supermarkets will close. Wal-Mart and labor abuses " Wal-Mart has racked up huge fines for child labor law violations.
The rich company reportedly makes children younger than 18 work through their
meal breaks, work very late and even work during school hours. Several states
have found Wal-Mart workers younger than 18 are operating dangerous equipment,
like chainsaws, and working in such dangerous areas as around trash compactors.
(The New York Times, 1/13/04; The Associated Press, 2/18/05; The Hartford Courant,
6/18/05) " By demanding impossibly low prices, Wal-Mart forces
its suppliers to produce goods in low-wage countries that don't protect workers.
A worker in a Honduran clothing factory whose main customer is Wal-Mart, for example,
sews sleeves onto 1,200 shirts a day for only $35 a week. (Los Angeles Times,
11/24/03) " Wal-Mart has a shameful record of paying women less than men. Wal-Mart pays women workers nearly $5,000 less yearly than men. Some 1.6 million women are eligible to join a class-action lawsuit charging Wal-Mart with discrimination. (Richard Drogin, Ph.D., 2/03; Los Angeles Times, 12/30/04) Wal-Mart and the environment " In October 2004, the United States sued Wal-mart
for violating the Clean Water Act in 9 states, calling for penalties of over $3
million and changes to W-M building codes. [U.S. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 2004
WL 2370700] " The United States Environmental Protection agency
fined Wal-Mart $1 million, settling allegations that Wal-Mart violated the Clean
Water Act with dirt discharges while building stores in Massachusetts, New Mexico,
Okalahoma, and Texas. [Wal-MartLitigation.com] " Wal-Mart was fined
$765,000 for violating Florida's petroleum storage tank laws at its automobile
service centers. Wal-Mart failed to register its fuel tanks, failed to install
devices that prevent overflow, did not perform monthly monitoring, lacked current
technologies, and blocked state inspectors. [Associated Press, 11/18/04] "
The average supercenter attracts 3,315 car trips a day (Terrain magazine) " A 250,000-square-foot supercenter with a 16-acre parking lot will produce 413,000 gallons of storm runoff for every inch of rain. Each year, such a lot would dump 240 pounds of nitrogen, 32 pounds of phosphorus, and 5 pounds of zinc into local watersheds while creating heat islands. (Terrain magazine) Wal-Mart general facts " Of the 100 most powerful economies in the world,
Wal-Mart ranks #19 " In 2003, sales associates, the most common
job in Wal-Mart, earned on average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861.The
2003 poverty line for a family of three was $15,260. ["Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?",
Business Week, 10/6/03] " Wal-Mart employs 1.2 million Americans.
It is the largest employer in the United States. This fact sheet was put together by the Organic Consumers Association |