By Mr. Jacob Bundrick Recently, I’ve written about how financial incentives that states provide to businesses in the form of tax breaks and subsidies don’t increase economic activity, have fiscal costs, are ineffective in steering the economy, and lack taxpayer protections when the firms that get money don’t meet their promises. In my final post […]
How Governments Use Financial Incentives to Try to Steer the Economy
By Mr. Jacob Bundrick Earlier this month, software engineering firm Elyxor pledged to create 45 new tech jobs in North Little Rock over the next five years. Arkansas Online quoted Governor Asa Hutchinson as saying, “While we have a diversified economy in Arkansas … we will not be complete as a state and complete as […]
How Tax Breaks and Subsidies Cost You and the Government Money
By Mr. Jacob Bundrick Proponents of financial incentives for business argue that tax breaks and subsidies don’t create costs to the state’s budget. Advocates reason that if Arkansas forgoes taxing a firm in some way, and that firm truly would not have located in the state without the tax break, there is no cost to […]
Tax Incentives and Subsidies: Two Staples Of Economic Development
By Mr. Jacob Bundrick If you’ve ever wondered why corporate welfare gets such a bad rap, you’ll want to read this post and the five follow-up posts I’ll be publishing over the next few weeks. My goal is to help you understand why governments give tax breaks and subsidies to local businesses and why, even […]