Larry Morse writes in today's News & Record:
"A front-page article in the Aug. 15 News & Record described City Council members discussing the merits of preparing land sites for potential businesses that might be recruited to the city. At least as reported, no data were presented even suggesting that a shovel-ready site is important to prospective employers, nor were cost figures...."
You may read the entire letter to the editor by clicking on the link above.
In response to Mr. Morse's letter, I would like to propose that North Carolina lawmakers introduce and pass simple legislation requiring that for every tax dollar spent to lure in businesses from outside of any municipal or county boundary, that same municipality or county must also incentivize new or existing businesses headquartered within its boundaries Dollar for Dollar. And that in the case of new businesses, the new business must be owned by residents who have lived within those boundaries for no less than 5 years.
As an example of how it might work, it might be that while a Multinational Corporation gets $100,000, ten local businesses would get $10,000 each. If incentives work then it's only fair that those who pay the incentives are also eligible to receive the incentives. Doing this would force more responsibility on local governing bodies too often run by developers who are able to profit even when incentivized multinationals pack up and leave town.
