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posted by takyon on Tuesday August 01 2017, @11:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the self-defeating-interstate-competition-for-jobs dept.

The Progressive reports:

Wisconsin is now poised to reward Foxconn with a whopping $3 billion "incentive" package--the fourth largest "mega-deal" in U.S. history. (That figure works out to an incredible $231,000 per job, and does not include the local subsidies that are invariably a part of such deals.) The bulk of this subsidy would be paid out in cash.[1]

[...] Wisconsin is jumping into the self-defeating interstate competition for jobs, in which U.S. states spend a collective $110 billion[2] on tax breaks and other sweeteners reserved mostly for the largest and most profitable companies like Foxconn, which raked in $2.26 billion in profits last year.

[1] Paywall after x visits per month.
[2] Link in TFA is just a search: http://america.aljazeera.com/search.html?q=%24110+billion.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by schad on Tuesday August 01 2017, @03:57PM

    by schad (2398) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @03:57PM (#547684)

    The state could subsidize some much smaller corporation for far less, and probably be raped less thoroughly.

    Or you could stop subsidizing anybody at all, and instead set your tax code (or whatever else) in such a way that it always encourages growth.

    I mean, if the only way you can attract businesses is by telling them they don't have to pay a dollar in taxes for 15 years, then maybe you should instead lower your corporate tax rate. Possibly set it to zero and raise other taxes instead to make up for it. Tada! Now Foxconn and your local businesses -- the ones that actually improve the lives of local citizens instead of Chinese billionaires -- can benefit!

    Politicians don't like it because it removes the opportunity for graft, though. How many Wisconsin state politicians were wined and dined by Foxconn as part of the lobbying process?

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