It’s sad to read in this morning’s News & Observer that Garner’s ConAgra Foods Slim Jim factory will close by next year, “laying off hundreds.”
But I worry more about the likely impact on state and local officials’ mindsets. The newspaper article tells us that ConAgra is shifting production to an Ohio plant after lawmakers there agreed to allow the company to skip paying property taxes for 15 years.
I can hear the conversations in economic development circles now: “If only we could have put together a better incentive package, we could have kept that Slim Jim plant and all those jobs.”
But as the John Locke Foundation has explained, targeted tax breaks distort the economy in ways that end up costing jobs.
In the video clip below, Roy Cordato answers those who say North Carolina can’t stand by and do nothing as other states offer business incentives. (The particular context for these 2007 comments was North Carolina’s deal to preserve Goodyear tire jobs.)
