Recently a local company gave a large donation to a local youth organization

[Nikia]

While I am usually supportive of businesses being philanthropic like this, I also know that their general labor is paid $9/hour to start and receive a maximum of a 25 cent raise per year. Wages here are below the national average, but this is below average for the community. The company employs around 100 people in a community of less than 10,000 people.
Many people around here think that it was wonderful that they made a seven figure donation to the local organization, but others think that they would have helped the community just as much or more if they had given their people a raise with the money instead.
This is a privately owned business started locally by the still current owner.
What do DUers think?

[elehhhhna]

1. I think the owner got a BIG tax writeoff for it.

[Nikia]

3. I am guessing that is the case

While I could be that a local owner might really be thinking of the children, I am inclined not to think that when he is obviously not thinking of the childrne of his employees.

[LiberalFighter]

2. How much of a tax abatement or other property tax relief did they receive?

[Nikia]

4. Not sure

They probably did get something out of it though from a financial standpoint.

[sandnsea]

5. Happens quite a bit

I think socaldem wrote a bit about this a while back. I don't know, I saw it somewhere anyway. People make millions of dollars by underpaying people or building developments that push people out of homes or hiring illegals, or all of the above, and then contribute a little here or there and become heroes to the community when some of those programs would never be necessary if people had a decent family income again.

The owners of the local grocery store were like that. They would give money to local groups and were supposed pillars of the community. And their food was rotten half the time, they hid their sale items, they had rats in the store, their employees had no health plan, and on and on. The workers at the Fred Meyer that replaced them are much better off. Local business isn't always the best thing for employees.