A corporate welfare agent pens this article in the N&O discussing ways North Carolina could improve its business climate. He includes some sound advice in this paragraph:
If the state. were to eliminate the premium it exacts from companies proposing to do business here through its corporate income tax rate, franchise tax and unfavorable apportionment formula, it would not be necessary to provide large, front-end-loaded cash grants to level the playing field.
So far, so good. Lower the tax rates and the rate of return to entrepreneurial investment becomes more attractive, enticing more business start-ups and expansions.
But then the author follows with these recommendations:
To be more competitive the state should (1) establish a mechanism for offering upfront cash grants where individual grant decisions are made without the necessity of special legislation, (2) reduce the corporate income tax rate to the median rate in the region and (3) adopt a single sales factor corporate income tax apportionment formula.
So just a few lines after detailing how the state could improve its business climate in such a way to do away with “upfront cash grants” (i.e. taxpayer handouts), he then places as his top priority a mechanism for the state to more easily disburse…taxpayer handouts.
Leave a Comment