Stonecipher: "They're Bargaining Chips"

Those tax breaks Boeing's coaxed out of local governments aren't subsidies. They're "bargaining chips." So says Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher, replying to Airbus allegations that the Chicago-based company has enjoyed a number of local tax breaks which amount to government backing of the aerospace giant.

"As to whether or not the tax incentives in Washington state are a subsidy or not is something that will be argued long and hard, as we consider it nothing more than lowering the cost of doing business in the state of Washington and is general to aerospace," Stonecipher during a conference call with both reporters and financial analysts.

Stonecipher's remarks came after the US unilaterally withdrew from a 1992 treaty with the European Union governing aerospace subsidies. Airbus charges Boeing has received billions in subsidies, while the Bush administration throws rocks at the government backing Airbus itself gets from members of the EU. The case is now before the World Trade Organization.

"We have said we want full transparency, that we want to be sure everything is out on the table," Stonecipher said, as quoted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "When you compare Washington state's tax incentives I think you will find they are not as good as Airbus gets in Toulouse and in Hamburg.... We've had a lot of people trying to figure out what those are."

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.airbus.com