Milking the state for cash

I hate corporate welfare. Taxpayers should not have to pay to upgrade a tire plant. We will not get as much money back in tax dollars from the employees as we will grant in tax breaks to Goodyear. Taxpayers shouldn't pay for Dell to be in the Piedmont. We shouldn't be paying for Google to move here, either. All of this makes me want to buy tires other than Goodyear, never buy a Dell, and forsake Google products. This blog is a Google product.

Either way, some pinheads think it is good for North Carolina if we give up tax revenue so that Goodyear can upgrade their facility. Then again, I don't believe in corporate taxation, anyway. However, if we are going to tax businesses, they all need to be taxed fairly and not hose the taxpayers with grants to private industry. If they want government money, let them win a government supply contract of some sort.

Here is the article on the latest taxpayer boondoggle.

As legal battles rage over using state money to lure new business to North Carolina, a legislative committee on Wednesday approved language in a bill to provide Goodyear with up to $40 million over the next decade to upgrade its tire plant in Fayetteville.

The ethical issue aside, there is also a legal issue. As the article states,

The Institute for Constitutional Law previously challenged incentives paid to Dell Inc. for a computer manufacturing and distribution hub in Forsyth County.

"It involves special treatment," said Aldean Webster, executive director of the Institute for Constitutional Law. "It's not surprising that we would have other businesses -- now those that are already present -- trying to get on the gravy train."