To the editors:

The manager of the local Wal-Mart writes on March 31 that an additional Wal-Mart means new tax revenues, new jobs and competitive wages. None of this is true.

Wal-Mart, like all retail stores, does not pay the sales tax revenues; the consumers pay the taxes. The implication of Wal-Mart’s claim to paying taxes is that additional stores mean additional sales tax revenues. This is false. Building more Wal-Marts will not mean more people and more spending in our marketplace; It will only spread the same spending across more stores, hurting existing businesses. Wal-Mart knows this and should stop making the claim.

Similarly, Wal-Mart makes the claim that more Wal-Marts means more jobs. Again this is false. The number of jobs in a retail market depends upon the amount of spending in the market, not the number of stores. Adding unneeded Wal-Mart stores simply moves jobs from existing stores to Wal-Mart, blighting existing shopping districts. Wal-Mart knows this and should stop making the claim.

Finally, Wal-Mart defends itself locally by claiming to pay an average wage of $9.64 per hour. This wages places workers at only 115 percent of the poverty level for a family of three, low enough to quality for food stamps. Wal-Mart knows that it pays low wages and should stop attempting to characterize its jobs as producing anything more than the working poor.

Kirk McClure,

Lawrence