Its been well documented here at Civitas the hypocrisy of Gov. Cooper when it comes to ‘corporate tax giveaways’.
Just a few days ago Donald Bryson reminded us of several cases where Cooper publicly proclaimed his opposition to “corporate tax giveaways.”
Now we get this announcement about perhaps the largest corporate tax giveaway in the state’s history:
Today, Governor Roy Cooper announced that Centene Corporation, a Fortune 50 provider of managed care services for public and private health plans, will create an East Coast regional headquarters and technology hub in Charlotte. … Centene’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a transformative JDIG approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today, the first JDIG of this classification ever awarded …. the JDIG agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $387,890,250. This potential payment would also be spread over 39 years. (emphasis added)
At a time when bars and gyms are banned from serving their customers, and a projected state budget shortfall approaching $5 billion, Cooper nevertheless has committed nearly $400 million of your taxpayer dollars to a global corporation over four decades.
This is the height of what Friedrich Hayek described as the Fatal Conceit of central planners. Not only is it incredibly unfair for hardworking taxpayers and homegrown businesses to pay taxes to subsidize this major corporation, it is mind-boggling arrogance for Cooper & Co. to think that this company is the best use of scarce resources – for the next 39 years.
Nobody can fully predict what the economy will look like in 30+ years.
For example – this is what computers looked like 39 years ago (love those floppy disks!)
