"No Free Lunch" group formed
Black Hills FOX News • Aug 30, 2007
Rapid City residents go to the polls in less than a month to vote on what's become a controversial deal between the city and Cabela's. About 30-acres of land is proposed to be transferred to Cabela's ... to be ... read more ...

Maine, S.C. try different tacks with big-boxstores
Stateline.org • Aug 11, 2007
Two states are taking vastly different approaches with “big box” retailers like Wal-Mart and Bass Pro Shops that want to expand within their borders. Maine: Make life tougher for them.
South Carolina: Roll out the ... read more ...

Negativity is not the issue on Cabela's
Rapid City Journal • July 23, 2007
Former mayor Jim Shaw's "Just Had To Ask" column on Cabela's in Wednesday's Journal was yet another demonstration of why voters showed him the door. Shaw claims those trying to refer to a vote an action the ... read more ...

Sanford says aid to chains hurts small, local stores
The Post and Courier • July 11, 2007
The debate over whether South Carolina should offer financial assistance to lure large
"destination" retailers is heating up again. Gov. Mark Sanford plans to stop in Charleston and the Upstate today to outline ... read more ...

Cabela's asked to return $25k of TEF money
Austin Business Journal • July 5, 2007
For the second year in a row, Cabela's Inc. owes the State of Texas, Hays County and the city of Buda a refund because the outdoor retailer's Buda store didn't meet job growth expectations. Krista Moody, ... read more ...

Voters may decide whether Cabela's gets land for free
Rapid City Journal • July 3, 2007
Part of the Cabela's incentive package approved by the Rapid City Council two weeks ago may be forced to a public vote if organizers of a referendum can gather enough
signatures. read more ...

Cabela's project draws retailers, hotels
Grand Rapids Press • June 21, 2007
WALKER -- As plans for a Cabela's store in Walker begin to firm up, other retailers and hotels are beginning to follow it into the Orchard Park project. Developer Jim Bossenbroek said he is in talks with a group that ... read more...

Scheel: Cabela's deal isn't fair
Rapid City Journal • June 20, 200
The day after the Rapid City Council voted to give outdoor outfitter Cabela's $2 million and the 30-acre Black Hills Visitor Information Center
site to bring a store to town, the operators of the center sounded a conciliatory note. read more

Blog: The Cabela's incentive
Daily Journal • June 18, 2007
Greetings: If you're the outdoorsy type, you just may be happier than a coondog on a bare leg, to borrow a phrase. Cabela's Inc. is wants to build a store at County Line Road and Interstate 65. Part of the development is ... read more ...

$100 million jobs fund was mistake, lawmakers say
Seattle Times Olympia • May 29, 2007
OLYMPIA -- Washington's largest job-development program, touted by state lawmakers as a way to create "family-wage" jobs, is spending millions of dollars to attract
employers that hire low-wage ... read more ...

Cabela's is fighting Kansas tax on online, catalog sales
USA Today • May 9, 2007
Outdoor gear seller Cabela's (CAB) is fighting Kansas' attempt to collect $392,000 in sales tax, penalty and interest on Internet and catalog sales. The case is thought to be among the first to set the stage for clarifying ... read more ...

Board votes to deny funds to Cabela's
Journal Sentinel • May 8, 2007
A slim majority of the Washington County
Board today refused to contribute $4 million to Cabela's Inc., rejecting a September 2005 board decision pledging the funds to the company as an incentive to... read more ...

Statesman seeks records on Cabela's tax break
IdahoStatesman.com • Apr. 10, 2007
A lawyer for the Idaho Statesman urged a district judge Monday to order the release of details about the Idaho Tax Commission's decision to allow retailer Cabela's not to collect sales taxes from its Idaho online and ... read more ...

Idaho Senate Backs Bid To Make Companies Collect Internet Tax
Local News 8 Boise, ID • Mar. 19, 2007
Senators today voted 25-to-five in favor of a measure to prevent retailers, including outdoor sports giant Cabela's in Boise, from avoiding sales tax collections from Internet customers in Idaho. Cabela's and others, ... read more ...

Opening date of Cabela's of Adairsville questionable, but not in 2007
The Daily Tribune • Feb. 11, 2007
A large sign in front of the Wendy's restaurant in Adairsville announces the property as the future site of Cabela's, but the eventual site may actually be another location. The only thing sure about the store at this time is it will ... read more...

Cabela's will harm the local economy
The Olympian • Feb. 02, 2007
How ironic that an organization called the "Community Economic Revitalization Board" wants to grant Lacey $9.9 million of our tax money to attract a Cabela's superstore.
It's not just that our local economy read more

Lawmaker: End tax break for Cabela's
Associated Press • Jan. 30, 2007
A tax concession that allows some businesses to avoid collecting sales taxes from online
and catalog sales to Idaho residents is unfair and should be dumped, a state lawmaker
says. The issue arose after the read more

Reno mayor demands local workers for resort project
Las Vegas Sun • Apr. 12, 2007
Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said any contract for special financing to build a proposed indoor water park at Grand Sierra Resort will include a requirement that local contractors be used on the project. The city, Cashell said, ... read more ...

Legislator shouldn't pick business winners and losers
Kalamazoo (MI) Gazette• Jan. 2, 2007
Former Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, an opponent of the Gun Lake Casino, has justified his opposition due to ``unfair'' competition the casino would pose on local businesses. Now Sikkema is ... read more...

Bass Pro Project May Be Dead; Funding Moved
WBEN 930 AM • Dec. 18, 2006
Bass Pro's mega-sized DisneyWorld of fishing stores, proposed for downtown Buffalo may
be a dead on the water. While officially, representatives of the waterfront commission working on a deal -- and Bass Pro ... read more ...

Incentives for Cabela's harmful to taxpayers
Post and Courier • Dec. 13 2006
It is Christmas time so I hate to disagree with anyone, but I must respectfully take exception with Keith Summey's guest column published Monday. His letter defended the proposed subsidy for the retailer Cabela's, ... read more...

Study Finds Cabela’s Has No County Jobs Impact
Mackinac Center • Dec. 07, 2006
MIDLAND — Mackinac Center Director of Fiscal Policy Michael D. LaFaive today cautioned policymakers that offering financial incentives to Cabela’s Inc., the outdoor sporting goods giant, would likely not result in any net ... read more ...

Enough with the subsidies, Rogers' new officials say
Minneapolis Star Tribune • Nov. 27, 2006
Before Cabela's opened its doors last fall, the company was given as much as $5 million in public subsidies from the city. Still angry with that concession -- and others that make Rogers the leading city in Minnesota for ... read more ...

Mayor who hooked Cabela’s denies federal investigation
NWI Times • Nov. 11, 2006
Representing Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and his family, attorney Kevin Smith on Friday denied federal authorities are investigating the family's role in the deal that landed a Cabela's sporting goods store in Hammond. read more ...

Texas Demands Refund from Retailer
The Heartland Institute • November 2006
The State of Texas is demanding that Cabela's Inc. return $28,000 and forfeit another $200,000 from a state grant for failing to create enough jobs at a store that received economic incentives. Kathy Walt, a ... read more ...

Cabela's ends fight over sales tax
Portland Press Herald • Oct. 25, 2006
Cabela's, the outdoor equipment retailer, has withdrawn its request for a controversial tax ruling and is moving ahead with plans for a megastore in Scarborough. The Nebraska-based company submitted a ... read more ...

Cabela's in a spat with Texas
The Post and Courier • Oct. 23, 2006
As South Carolina dangles a controversial tax-break package to lure outdoor outfitter Cabela'sInc. to the Lowcountry, at least one state recently asked the retailer to return thousands of dollars in incentive ... read more ...

Buy outdoors out of store - and save
Denver Post • Oct. 18, 2006
When outdoor sporting-goods retailer Cabela's Inc. opens a long-awaited store in Wheat Ridge in 2008, state residents who purchase goods online or through the company's catalog will get a break - no sales tax. ... read more...

Bass Pro payment fat, but overall total still lags
Tulsa World • Oct. 17, 2006
BROKEN ARROW -- Bass Pro Shops' Outdoor World's latest lease payment to the city is one of its largest since the store opened last year, officials said Monday. The company notified City Finance Director Tom Caldwell that its check this month -- for business done in... read more ...

South Carolina Governor Fights Big-Box Subsidy for Cabela's
The Hometown Advantage • Oct. 10, 2006 read
Gov. Mark Sanford is pulling out all the stops in his bid to block a multi-million dollar subsidy for the huge outdoor retail chain Cabela's.
In June, Sanford vetoed legislation passed by the South Carolina legislature that ... read more ...

Not Very Sporting: Outdoor Sporting Goods Retail Subsidy Scam by Greg Leroy
Multinational Monitor • Sep/Oct 2006
It is not often that companies get into public disputes over economic development
subsidies. Even though Wal-Mart has benefited from more than $1 billion in state and local favors, for example, you won’t find ... read more ...

Traffic less than expected during Cabela's opening
West Bend Daily News • Sep. 27, 2006
TOWN OF RICHFIELD - Traffic tie-ups at Cabela’s soft opening this past weekend were scarce, local law enforcement officials said Tuesday. "Ultimately there were no problems,"
Jackson Police Chief Jed ... read more ...

Sanford still on the hunt
The Post and Courier • Sep. 22, 2006
Gov. Mark Sanford says he has "one last chess move" up his sleeve to foil an unprecedented set of tax breaks aimed at luring a major outdoor retailer to North Charleston. Unless lawmakers reconsider legislation ... read more...

Ascension businesses seek rehearing in Cabela’s case
2theadvocate.com • Sep. 21, 2006
GONZALES — The attorney representing two Ascension Parish sporting goods dealers opposing the tax increment financing of a Cabela’s store in Gonzales has filed a motion for a rehearing before the ... read more ...

Bass Pro Shops might miss mark
tulsaworld.com • Sep. 16, 2006
BROKEN ARROW -- Just one month shy of its first birthday, the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World's lease payments to the city could miss the $850,000 minimum annual payback mark predicted by supporters when ... read more ...

Cabela's tax break raises eyebrows
Idaho Statesman • Sep. 12, 2006
Idaho officials contend they were only following the law when the Tax Commission ruled that Cabela's Inc. would not have to collect Idaho sales taxes on its online and catalog sales.
But legal and legislative efforts ... read more ...

Angling for a Tax Break
Bangor Daily News • Aug. 31, 2006
At a time when the state is trying to collect unpaid sales tax from Maine residents and businesses and lawmakers spend endless hours fretting about property taxes, it makes no sense to allow an out-of-state ... read more ...

Cabela's cuts deal on online sales tax
IdahoStatesman.com • Aug. 31, 2006
Idaho is one of Cabela's top states for online and catalog sales, but the state
won't get any sales taxes from the goods Idahoans purchase online from the
powerhouse sporting goods ... read more ...

Debate swirls over tax break for Cabela's
Keep Me Current.com • Aug. 31, 2006
SCARBOROUGH: Local and state officials are scrambling to respond to the threat that Cabela’s, the center of the first large development on Scarborough's Haigis Parkway, could pull out because of a ... read more ...

Nobody should get special deal
on sales tax
Kennebec Journal • Aug. 30, 2006
Maine should not give Cabela's a special sales tax deal. Cabela's, a Nebraska-based outdoor equipment retailer, is on the verge of building a 125,000-square-foot retail store that would anchor a 65-acre development ... read more ...

Debate heating up over Cabela's tax exemption
Portland Press Herald • Aug. 29, 2006
Backers of Cabela's, the outdoor-equipment giant looking to build a store in Maine, on Monday defended the company's position regarding state tax laws.
Its critics, meanwhile, continued ... read more...

Store says tax a deal-breaker threatens to pull out
Blethen Maine Newspapers • Aug. 28, 2006
Cabela's, the outdoor equipment company that seemed set to open a megastore in Scarborough, may not come to Maine after all, threatening an ambitious commercial project.
Developers spent the past year ... read more ...

Gander Mountain takes aim at big competitors' subsidies
The Patriot-News • Aug. 27, 2006
In the battle of outdoor sports retailers, Gander Mountain is in the shadows of Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. But the Gander Mountain chain is taking the lead in fighting government subsidies for new stores being ... read more ...

Incentives unjustified
The Herald • Aug. 14, 2006
Gov. Mark Sanford wants to know why big-box sporting goods stores should get a tax break and other incentives from the state at the expense of smaller retailers. That's a good question. Sanford recently wrote... read more ...

Sanford recruits anti-Cabela's help
The Post and Courier • Aug. 04, 2006 read
Gov. Mark Sanford is rallying area retailers to help him kill government incentives aimed at bagging a massive Cabela's retail store for
North Charleston. Lawmakers overrode a Sanford veto in June to cast a ... read more ...

Bass Pro sales figures slip in OKC
The Journal Record • July 19, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY – Bass Pro Shops’ Outdoor World sales for five of the first six months of the year have fallen below figures for the same
period last year at the Bricktown store, for a total difference of $1.8 million through ... read more...

Ignoring caution on incentives
The Post and Courier • July 10, 2006
The Legislature's approval of an incentive package for a national retailer usurps executive authority over economic development and can be expected to diminish its success if more broadly pursued. South Carolina ... read more...

No incentives for Cabela's
Franklin Favorite • June 29, 2006
Despite pleas from area lawmakers and residents, Gov. Fletcher apparently didn’t put incentives for a Cabela’s store in Simpson County on the agenda of the special called session, which started last ... read more ...

Still a bad idea: Don't resurrect tax incentive plan for Cabela's
Lexington Herald-Leader • June 21, 2006
Kentucky has more miles of running water than any other state except Alaska, the longest recorded cave system in the world, the
unique and beautiful grasslands of the Bluegrass and the horse ... read more ...

On My Mind
Don't Tempt Me
Forbes.com • June 16, 2006
States and cities lure businesses with promises of tax abatements and other goodies. They'd do better with broad-based tax cuts. The recent Supreme Court decision validating state tax incentives for ... read more ...

At what cost?
Reno Gazette-Journal • June 4, 2006
Cabela's outdoor retailer is nearing its final
approval to reap $83.7 million in tax breaks for a Reno store, but competitors are arguing such subsidies are inappropriate because the stores are spreading so quickly. ... read more ...

Bass Pro bid questioned by residents
Times Daily • June 2, 2006
FLORENCE -- All 42 people in attendance at Broadway Recreation Center kept their hands down Thursday night when asked if they supported a proposed Bass Pro project in Veterans Park.The meeting was ... read more ...

Council delays Bass Pro contract vote
Times Daily • May 17, 2006
FLORENCE -- Councilman Scott Carrier delayed the vote for three weeks on an exclusive contract with a developer to research the feasibility of a Bass Pro Shops in Veterans Park.
Carrier gave little explanation ... read more ...

Too clever by far
Rome News-Tribune.com • Apr. 24, 2006
AS A GENERAL rule, state/ local "inducements" to land some major new jobcreating, tax-producing private enterprise are not a bad idea so long as kept within reasonable bounds. To be sure, there will always ... read more ...

HOOKSETT
TIF TOO BIG?
Hooksett Banner • Apr. 20, 2006
Responding to concerns first voiced at the deliberative session of Town Meeting, Hooksett town councilors considered altering the boundaries of the tax increment financing, or TIF, district, so as not to ... read more ...

Broken Arrow Bass Pro lease payments lag behind projections
Associated Press • Apr. 19, 2006
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) -- Lease payments from Bass Pro Shops' Outdoor World are coming up short of the high projections made when Broken Arrow lured and helped build the massive store, but city ... read more ...

Store deal falls through
Boston.com • Apr. 16, 2006
Plainville officials are disappointed by the decision of Cabela's Inc. to scrap a major project but say they are certain other businesses will continue to be interested in the town. "I'm sure we'll have other ... read more ...

Cabela's passes on Plainville site
townonline • Apr. 14, 2006
PLAINVILLE- Outdoor retail giant Cabela's is on the hunt again for a new store location after withdrawing Plainville from consideration.
Town Administrator Joseph Fernandes on Monday told selectmen the ... read more ...

Incentive bill for retailer withdrawn by its sponsor
Lexington Herald-Leader • Apr. 13, 2006
FRANKFORT - An economic development incentive program that would have been used to lure a Cabela's sporting goods store to Kentucky was abandoned as the General Assembly ended its 60-day ... read more ...

What Cabela’s could deliver
The Olympian • Apr. 12, 2006
LACEY — Outdoors retailer Cabela’s would generate an estimated $5 million in annual sales tax and could draw 4.5 million visitors to the area each year, according to an analysis included in an application for ... read more ...

Cabela's pulls out of town
Sun Chronicle • Apr. 11, 2006
PLAINVILLE --A Cabela's outdoor destination store planned for the intersection of
Route 1 and Interstate 495 won't be coming to Plainville, after all. Town Administrator Joseph Fernandes said he was ... read more ...

Is the Bass Pro bait worth more than the catch?
Toledo City Paper • Apr.05, 2006
It has been more than a year since Pizzuti was named as the developer of the Marina District by then-Mayor Jack Ford. The 125-acre site on Toledo’s East Side has been cleaned of toxins and graded with fresh top soil. read more ...

Businessmen argue against Cabela’s deal
New Orleans bureau • Apr. 4, 2006
NEW ORLEANS — Attorneys for two Ascension Parish small-business owners and Gonzales jousted Monday before the state’s highest court over the legality of tax incentives given to hunting and fishing retail giant Cabela’s ... read more ...

Idaho tax bill could affect Cabela's decision
The Spokesman-Review.Com • Mar. 29, 2006
BOISE – Lawmakers have revived proposed tax incentives to woo companies such as sporting goods megastore Cabela's to Idaho, but the session is almost over, and the bill likely won't advance. The bill probably won't ... read more ...

Local matters: No to Cabela's; yes to public safety
Journal Inquirer • Mar. 24, 2006
You have to wonder how putting a sporting goods store on a prime piece of real estate near Rentschler Field in East Hartford makes the most of that spot. That's what some well-meaning people propose. read more ...

TIF Plan In Broken Arrow Off The Table
NewsChannel 8 • Mar. 22, 2006
Broken Arrow - A 25-million dollar economic development plan is being put on the shelf in Broken Arrow. It's not going to be used because it does not have the support of the school system. The plan would have ... read more ...

Rivals: Bass Pro incentives aren't sportsmanlike
NWI Times • Feb 27, 2006
VALPARAISO | At Doris Salada's small Country Bait Shop, crickets are a delicacy.
Customer Traci Henson, of Hebron, drives about 15 miles out of her way for the 10-cent critters. Her son's leopard ... read more ...

Not enough bang for buck
Boston Globe • Feb. 17, 2006
HAMBURG, Pa. -- Cabela's, the giant outdoor retailer, is a magnet for hunters and corporate tax breaks -- a very Republican mix that Bush & Co. tried hard to capitalize on during the last campaign with visits to stores ... read more ...

Hook, line and Sinker
Star Tribune • February 2006
The Mall of America is close to reeling in a big fish and the cities of Owatonna and Rogers should hope the deals they made to 'reel in' Cabela's in 1998 (Owatonna) and 2005 (Rogers) don't start to stink as ... read more ...

Cabela's may get competition from megamall
Owatonna People's Press • Feb. 04, 2006
A Missouri-based outdoor equipment retailer may open a new superstore at the Mall of America, challenging Cabela's dominance in the outdoor goods market in Minnesota -- including Owatonna. read more ...

Did Gander Mountain STIF Cabela's?
Times of NW Indiana • Jan. 7, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS | A competing outdoors retailer has been lobbying state officials to put the lid on government subsidies for a Cabela's in Hammond and Bass Pro Shops in Portage. read more ...

Daniels: Store incentives overpriced
Post-Tribune • Jan. 6, 2006
HAMMOND — Gov. Mitch Daniels absolutely wants Cabela’s to come to Indiana, but the state won’t be paying the store’s asking price to do it. read more ...

Tax Increment Financing: A Bad Bargain for Taxpayers
Reason Magazine • January 2006
If your imagining an attraction that will draw 4.5 million out-of-town visitors a year, the first thing that jumps to mind probably isn't a store that sells guns and fishing rods and those brown jackets President Bush ... read more...

By law we must collect tax: For schools or stores?
The Examiner • Dec. 17, 2005
Every time a new retail development is proposed in Eastern Jackson County, more
times than not it comes with a tax increment financing plan. These plans often
generate a lot of community debate ... read more ...

Eastern Jax lawmakers will work to rein in TIF
Biz Journals • Nov. 25, 2005
Eastern Jackson County, where tax increment financing has become as closely tied to
shopping centers as post-Thanksgiving sales, is moving to the center of debate about
TIF's use. read more ...

Cabela's sought big incentives from state
American-Statesman • Nov. 22, 2005
Cabela's Inc. had two priorities when the outdoors retailer approached state officials
about the two stores it wanted to build in Texas: a big package of incentives and a
shield from collecting ... read more ...

Tackle shop owners, anglers weigh in on Bass Pro
Times Daily • Nov. 13, 2005
Darrin McCullar likes shopping at Gray's Tackle and will continue to shop there even if a Bass Pro Shops store comes to Florence. "I may not go to Bass Pro if they do get one. I like coming to Gray's because ... read more ...

Arizona Lawmakers Pledge to Ban Big-Box Subsidies
The Hometown Advantage • Nov. 10, 2005
www.newrules.org
"The practice of competing to see who will kick-back the most taxpayer money to certain
mega-businesses has gotten obscene," declared Arizona State Representative Rick
Murphy ... read more ...

Corporate welfare faces test in court
The Patriot-News • Oct. 2, 2005
In the mid-1990s, some people feared welfare reform would leave mil lions of people
in wretched conditions and cause unemployment to soar. read more ...

Lawsuit seeks to block payment to Cabela's
Journal Sentinel • Sep. 29, 2005
West Bend — A retired local business executive filed a lawsuit Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court to block a county payment of $4 million to Cabela's Inc. in
exchange for the company's ... read more ...

Big enough?
Business Report • Mar. 01, 2005
For more than a year, Bass Pro Shops had been preparing to grab a promising spot in the Sportsman's Paradise. It lined up tax breaks. Its Denham Springs site was cleared. A trailer emblazoned with "Bass Pro ... read more ...

Gordon to cities: Tax lures must end
Calls rivalries over retail 'destructive'
The Arizona Republic • May 19, 2004
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon on Tuesday challenged Valley cities to stop giving public
subsidies to developers who want to build big-box retail stores and auto malls. read more ...

Opposition to subsidy of Bass Pro Store Grows
www.okcbombing.org • Aug. 5, 2002
Texas-based Academy Sports and Outdoors, one of the nation's largest sporting
goods chains, is being accused of pumping $100,000 into a campaign to kill a
proposal by Oklahoma City to ... read more ...