Show Us The Tax Breaks – A film by UNITE HERE

May 18, 2010

Show Us the Tax Breaks tells the story of how the Union Tank Car company abused economic development incentives to enrich its owners without creating any tangible benefit to the national economy. This provocative film argues that pitting states against one another as Union Tank Car did violates the spirit of public development subsidies and undermines President Obama’s economic recovery agenda.

The Pritzker family, also known as the owners of Hyatt Hotels, owned Union Tank Car from 1981 to 2008, when it sold 60% of the company. The Pritzkers are a group of eleven cousins whose net worth is estimated to be at least $20 billion. Thomas Pritzker, who remains the chairman Union Tank Car’s parent company Marmon Holdings, serves as the chairman of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Penny Pritzker serves on the board of Hyatt Hotels, and is the chairman of four other Pritzker businesses.

While it is unclear exactly how much taxpayer money has gone to Pritzker-owned businesses, Hyatt-branded hotels alone have collected approximately $1.5 billion in public subsidies.

Learn more about the movie here, or WATCH IT HERE!