Amazon’s $8.5 Billion – Worth It?

Does giving tax breaks and / or subsidies to corporations to entice them to relocate to your community work? There has been a number of reports out that basically state, “Financial incentives do not spur economic activity!” Claims are made that construction jobs, local investment in the community, of course, new jobs … While these arguments seem sound, the reality is that financial incentives often fail to spur economic activity for several reasons. Such increased costs (labor and real estate costs go up for everyone, the cost of business grows), infrastructure congestion, and an increased probability of tax hikes. Just thinking about this when I read that Maryland just OK’d $8.5 billion in incentives to lure Amazon … (uca.edu/acre)