“Inter-jurisdictional competition for growth can and does lead to potentially misplaced investments - stadiums instead of schools, highways instead of health care. There is nothing intrinsic about the mark in jurisdictions that ensures that it will produce the right kind of spending, even if we knew that that spending was.” Economic DevelopmentLocal Government Author:Richard Schragger
“The stories of failure are commonplace. Reporting that, five years after locating there, IBM fired most of its employees in Dubuque and Columbia despite a combined $84 million in tax breaks, the author of a Bloomberg News story noted that this scenario has 'played out often across America: Big company comes to town, provides boost to the local economy and then leaves.' The Kelo case ended similarly: New London provided Pfizer with significant subsidies only to see the company depart a few years later.” Economic DevelopmentSubsidiesTax Breaks Author:Richard Schragger
“Local and state tax incentives are much less visible because they do not constitute a direct charge to local budgets and are often paid for by future generations through municipal debt. This relative invisibility makes it much less probable that the local political process can be counted on to prevent bad incentive deals.” Economic DevelopmentSubsidiesTax Breaks Author:Richard Schragger