corporate incentives

One of the few things Art Pope and I agree on is the misguided practice of giving subsidies to private businesses in the form of incentives. I support the conservative view that government should not be picking the winners and losers when it comes to specific companies. And now it looks like that question is going back to the courts.

A North Carolina appeals court is taking a new look at a lawsuit arguing the millions taxpayers spent to get a culinary and hospitality school to move to Charlotte should be repaid. The Court of Appeals hears oral arguments on Monday in the case that seeks to claw back about $10 million in taxpayer money state legislators gave Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte.

The NC Senate, Inc., has scrambled in recent days to create incentives designed to lure Apple Computers to North Carolina. Dome has the story.

Under the bill, only a company's North Carolina sales would be used to calculate its corporate income tax. North Carolina now includes a company's property and payroll when calculating the tax.

But as Elaine Mejia points out at Progressive Pulse, the bill runs the risk of being short-sighted and counterproductive.

How embarrassing! We've been pointing out the sometimes grotesque measures taken to attract businesses to our fair state, but we're now getting international attention for it and it isn't pretty. It's downright embarrassing.

Here are the first two paragraphs from the post in The Register:

North Carolina will do just about anything to keep technology companies happy, including offering IBM up to $750,000 to bring just 10 jobs to the state.

In my secret life, I occasionally correspond with one of the few sane Republicans in North Carolina, Bob Orr. Over the past few months, we've developed what I consider a civil relationship, which is awfully kind of him after all the grief I've given him this year because of his symbiotic relationship with Art Pope. Mr. Orr even visits BlueNC from time to time, as evidence by this posting on his own well-written blog.

In fact, There's a pretty interesting discussion at the BlueNC blog about the controversy surrounding the question of transferring revenue from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund for non highway related appropriations. Now I don't usually refer readers to BlueNC unless you're looking for a frequently irrational ideological rant against all things even remotely related to Republicans. (Parental Discretion is advised since some of the content is not appropriate for sensitive youngsters!) But I will admit to having struck up a reasonably civil communication line with the blog's chief blogger Anglico a/k/a James Protzman and the liberal perspective is often interesting to read.

Very glad to see this. Thanks, Governor Easley. You did the right thing.