There are lots of reasons why North Carolina ought not give tax credits for historic preservation projects. The North Carolina General Assembly recognized a bad policy and eliminated the state historic preservation tax credit in the 2014-15 budget.
At an event yesterday the governor lauded the historic preservation tax credit for a company that did not even use them. Read about it here. And the mayor of High Point had this to say:
Not everyone thinks the historic tax credits are all that important to attract business. In an interview earlier this week, WFDD asked High Point Mayor Bill Bencini about the importance of the historic tax credits to lure manufacturing back to High Point.
Bencini says the city has other factors – including experienced workers and well-connected supply chain – that are more important to manufacturers.
“So we have factors that are already here in High Point that we can continue to use to develop more business and to bring manufacturing back,” he says. “But I don’t think the tax credits deal is the most important issue.
This is exactly why the General Assembly should not re-visit the historic preservation tax credit. Now about those other incentives…..
HT: DB