Above Photo: From Muckrock.com
We’ll help you ask your municipality what’s it’s putting your tax dollars toward
Between government and private business, a lot of dollars exchange hands. This isn’t limited to the billions of dollars that get spent on government contracting – from purchasing bulk orders of toilet paper for daily office operations to outsourcing detention management to developing new war machines for global conflicts. It also involves direct investments in companies and funds, often via the use of investment or financial management firms like JP Morgan or Wells Fargo and not infrequently in association with an employee pension fund. The record of these investments should typically be of public record.
In response to an ongoing request in Phoenix, MuckRock recently received a report of municipal security holdings. As we wait for further materials, we’d like to help you get started finding out just what your city or state agency is sitting on.
Submit a town to the form below, and we’ll submit a request for their holdings.
On college campuses and in cities, efforts to understand and reject certain investments have resulted in major divestments in the past few years. Washington D.C. announced it had cleared its $6.4 billion pension fund of fossil fuel holdings. In response to actions around the Dakota Access Pipeline, multiple cities have vowed to avoid business with Wells Fargo. And this summer, New York City became the biggest municipality to clear its ledger of all investments related to private prisons.
Want to learn more about how your municipality is handling its investments? Have a tip? Let us know via the form, shoot as an email at info@muckrock.com, or connect with us on Twitter.
