Stateline.org has an exceptional article on the legal battle over state tax incentives in Ohio; an important precursor to the impending legal battle in North Carolina over the Dell deal (go get’em Orr).

Not only should you read this article, but while doing so, you should pay attention to the arguments for incentives, asking yourself throughout, instead of whinning about how states need incentives to compete nationally as well as globally for businesses, why don’t we change the focus of the argument away from what we need to give, to what we can and should offer. What ever happened to the oldfashioned way of getting a business: investing in infrastructure, education, and cutting corporate taxes?

Removing incentives from state legislatures’ lexicon for corporate bargaining will force government to focus on issues that not only appeal to corporations, but to the state’s citizens as well.