Dell hell

A deal's a deal, except when it's not. You'd think with all the lawyers running around Raleigh, we could get a decent, transparent contract when millions of dollars are on the line.

As part of the incentives package that lured Dell here in 2004, the state granted the computer maker up to $6 million in tax credits, which are discounts to its annual tax bill. Dell says it took the credits it was entitled to but will not say how much it claimed. The state argues it can reclaim that money because Dell no longer meets the criteria that it once used to qualify for tax credits.

A story last week in the Winston-Salem Journal notes that the 2004 state law that granted Dell tax credits isn't particularly clear. In any case, the law appears to have no provision for retroactively revising Dell's tax payment. And good luck trying to figure out the amount of money being squabbled over: The amount of money Dell claimed in tax credits is exempt from the state's public record laws.