The Sunday Viewpoints commentary on tax incentives, “Fertile ground for jobs,” paints a rosy picture of how state and local government can purchase jobs by offering tax incentives. Buried in the story is that the incentives are offered at the threat of losing jobs. Companies have told the state, “Give us tax breaks or we take our jobs elsewhere.” This isn’t business, it’s extortion. Unfortunately, state and local governments have become competitors, bidding up the incentives in order to lure companies to their area or to keep a company in town. The phrase “positive climate for business” really means tax breaks for a company, and taxpayers must shoulder a greater burden of paying for schools, infrastructure, police and fire protection and the social programs that are crucial functions of government.
A story in the New York Times, Dec. 1 2012, gives a much different look at tax subsidies. The Times created a searchable database of state and local government tax incentives. The total for the nation was around 80.4 billion each year, and for the state of Washington, around 2.35 billion, or about 15 percent of our budget. This figure is twice our projected budgetary shortfall for the biennium and represents an amount that could satisfy the state supreme court’s requirement that Washington fully fund K-12 education. Many jobs “created” by these incentives would exist anyway. A proven incentive for business is a well-educated work-force, and we would be better served funding and supporting education, instead of giving in to corporate extortion.
Jim DuBois
Edmonds
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