Incentives at the local level are becoming increasingly ludicrous in North Carolina. Cities and counties have succumbed to the extraordinarily myopic belief touted by economic developers that new jobs can only come if local government is willing to give up the revenue.
In Arizona, Governor Janet Napolitano has signed new legislation that denies state funds to cities that offer sales tax breaks to developers. The legislators and governor have seen the absurdity of local areas competing with one another to the detriment of already established businesses. (In North Carolina Guilford Mills was lured from Guilford County to New Hanover with NO new jobs for the state.)
They had not acted sooner because local governments had promised to stop being so outrageous, but that all changed when the city of Phoeniz and the city of Surprise handed out a total of $337 million. Enough was enough.
State senator, Ken Cheuvront said it best, “It was like children in front of candy. They just couldn’t help themselves.” and cited the TRUTH here and in Arizona, that incentives treat businesses who don’t receive them unfairly.
Do our state’s leaders care about such issues? Not at the present time. Then again, leadership requires courage sadly missing in North Carolina. (Source: Governing Magazine, November 2007)
