James R. Mapp speaks at Jubilee Day 2013 in this file photo.The NAACP on Thursday blasted a number of local tax incentives offered to developers and corporations as undermining a “grand pillar of democracy.”
James Mapp, president of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County NAACP, said property tax breaks offered to businesses by the city and county don’t receive enough public scrutiny, pointing out that the Chamber of Commerce that negotiates such breaks and the industrial development boards that facilitate such deals are not elected.
Mapp fingered such agreements for “mass displacement,” “crime,” and “homelessness,” and said the resulting minority vote dilution was a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Industrial Development Boards are not merely rubber-stamp committees and should not be used merely to bypass federal and state law,” Mapp said. “Their chief function is to be able to recommend to local government the answers to [three] questions, namely, “What is the public purpose? What is the public benefit? What is the public cost?”
Officials pointed out several mistakes in Mapp’s missive, including misidentifying the Black Creek Mountain development and the Miller Park proposal — both of which still receive some type support from taxpayers — as receiving property tax breaks through the industrial development board.