Back in 2017, Gov. Roy Cooper publicly celebrated a corporate welfare deal with Swiss financial service giant Credit Suisse. The headlines celebrated the 1,200 jobs that the deal will create, with Cooper proclaiming that the deal “will bring high-paying jobs and spur economic development across our state.”
The global, multi-billion dollar corporation was offered roughly $40 million in tax breaks over 12 years.
Yesterday, however, it was announced that the state is terminating its deal because Credit Suisse admitted it won’t meet the hiring goals that made headlines more than six years ago.
For those who have followed North Carolina’s history of industrial planning via government handouts and tax breaks, this announcement comes as no surprise.
For those who have followed North Carolina’s history of industrial planning via government handouts and tax breaks, this announcement comes as no surprise.
A 2020 analysis by WRAL found that, from 2009 to 2016, nearly half of the jobs promised as part of these deals never materialized, and about 37 percent of the projects failed to create even a single job. Recent developments strongly suggest this poor track record has continued.
Undaunted by this long-term trend of failure, however, on the same day of the Credit Suisse announcement, Gov. Cooper announced yet another tax break to a multi-billion dollar global corporation.
German energy corporate giant Siemens announced plans to expand its Charlotte operations, with the promise of creating 559 jobs. The project was supposedly facilitated by a tax break package courtesy of North Carolina taxpayers worth roughly $7 million over 12 years. The company has annual revenue in excess of $32 billion, so I’m sure that tax break averaging less than $600,000 per year will make a huge difference in their bottom line.
Meanwhile, the tax burden of hard-working North Carolinians across the state is higher because massive corporations like Siemens, Apple, Toyota, Kroger and many others are receiving tax breaks doled out by Cooper.
