Matt,

Targeted incentives make it seem that there is a
one-to-one relationship that is missing in sound policy. They are
cheaper and provide the opportunity to give a company tax exemption
while keeping high rates elsewhere. Those high rates make the incentive
necessary and are themselves necessary to pay for the incentives.

We offered a tax break and looky here, we got Dell. We’re spending millions and looky here, we got Novartis. Of course, when a company goes someplace else it’s because the targeted incentives weren’t generous enough.

Caldwell County is one of the finalists to get a lowly data center from Google and already the state is setting aside special tax credits and exemptions for the facility with no guarantee that it will be built.

If
you can get a pro-incentive senator or representative, Jim Fain, or
someone from the governor’s office on your show to try your tactic, it
would be a good start. It shouldn’t be hard, changes to the Bill Lee
Act passed the House 106-7 and the Senate, too, by a large margin.