I recently attended a meeting of the state’s Incentive Review Committee. This board of citizens is appointed by elected leaders to review some of the hundreds of tax incentives we give to encourage specific economic activities. Dr. Larkin Warner, a member who also is a retired professor of Economics at Oklahoma State University, called the committee’s attention to two research approaches and current views on state tax incentives for businesses.

In the July 13 & 20 edition of Business Week, Jessica Silver-Greenburg asks Will Tax Breaks Boost State Jobs? She points out that incentives are a zero-sum game. Michigan might be better off for keeping a GM plant by spending $44 million in tax money, but the country is not.While state economic development officials defend the programs as essential to the state’s economic future,  Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First, contends:

It’s a net-loss game for state and local governments. The only winners are the companies playing the tax game. Read the rest of this entry »