Tax Breaks for All My Friends
If it works why not for everyone?
Recent news from the corporate welfare state is that Dell has gotten their tax breaks for building a plant in North Carolina. In this case the company was given $300,000,000 to build a plant to employ 1,500 people. That works out to only $20k per job, not bad, most of the deals like this cost alot more than that per job. Sports stadiums often work out to more than $100k in tax breaks per job.
The question to ask is: if tax breaks are good for business and good for the local economy, why not just lower taxes for everyone. Playing special interest favorites just turns off those that are in an economy already and creates more incentives, a downward spiral if you will, of states (and nations for that matter) competiting with each other for specific projects. A waste of time when low, simple taxes for everyone will create a positive and fair business environment for all.
Recent news from the corporate welfare state is that Dell has gotten their tax breaks for building a plant in North Carolina. In this case the company was given $300,000,000 to build a plant to employ 1,500 people. That works out to only $20k per job, not bad, most of the deals like this cost alot more than that per job. Sports stadiums often work out to more than $100k in tax breaks per job.
The question to ask is: if tax breaks are good for business and good for the local economy, why not just lower taxes for everyone. Playing special interest favorites just turns off those that are in an economy already and creates more incentives, a downward spiral if you will, of states (and nations for that matter) competiting with each other for specific projects. A waste of time when low, simple taxes for everyone will create a positive and fair business environment for all.
posted by Cameron Weber at 12:09 PM
