В общем, я согласна с тем, что если штаты решают дать компании кредит или отсрочку оплаты налогов или освобождение от налогов - это делается потому, что штат считает, что это ему выгодно. Только надо быть честными и не говорить, что все компании и предприниматели делают все сами исключительно за счет своего труда и рыночных сил - в случае крупных компаний с лоббистами или друзьями в правительстве штата, они создают свой капитал в значительной степени за счет помощи от государства. Почему бы им не делать все исключительно рыночным образом - получить капитал от инвесторов и строить свой бизнес там, где им это выгодно?
Вот, например, с того же вебсайта, откуда и первая цитата. Звучит очень похоже на ситуацию в нашем городе, где тоже пытались строить "субсидированный" молл, и он стоит пустым.
In Irondequoit, just outside Rochester, N.Y., and a few miles from where I live, developer Scott Congel wants $250 million in sales taxes to finance rebuilding the Medley Centre mall while adding condominiums and a hotel. Typically local governments issue bonds, which are paid off using sales tax receipts that are diverted from public purposes to the developer’s benefit.
Subsidies for retail businesses are the worst kind of corporate welfare because, as the end of the economic chain, retailing grows only when population and incomes increase. If population or income falls, then subsidies for new projects like Congel’s damage existing businesses, where people would otherwise be spending their money.
The mall, which struggled from the start, was built in 1990 for $140 million in today’s dollars. A Congel associate, Adam Bersin, bought it in 2005 for less than $6 million in today’s dollars. He then persuaded the Monroe County industrial development agency to issue $5.4 million in bonds and then flipped the real estate to Congel in 2007.
Today the mall is empty, its doors sealed, except for a Sears at one end and a Macy’s at the other, each with a handful of customers during my visits.
Congel promised a $260 million project, but five years on nothing is built and Congel is seeking delays in fulfilling promises for which the mall was granted property tax breaks.
Congel has never spoken publicly about his plans for the mall and neither Congel nor any of his representatives, including a lawyer, returned my calls. But la st month hi s office gave a local TV station a statement promising to invest not $260 million but $750 million
My review of construction costs for hotels and condominiums suggests the $750 million figure is wildly inflated, but it may make the subsidies more politically palatable.
If the larger figure is real, and taxpayers put up $250 million, they would pay for a third of the project, while for a $260 million project the taxpayer share would be 96 percent.
Having taxpayers pay nearly all of a new investment is becoming common. General Electric, for example, is getting Ohio taxpayers to cover 92 percent of a $126 million project.
Congel, along with GE and others, should rely on the market to finance projects. If a project is sound, the market will finance it and, if not, why should taxpayers donate?
When the Monroe County industrial development agency gave Congel’s plan initial approval I asked for its due diligence. The county provided a thin report stating that if taxpayers finance the restoration Medley Centre’s sales would grow from $30 million annually to $420 million.
The report cover states that Congel commissioned it. Judy Seil, director of the agency which gives money to companies, confirmed that Congel paid for the report. Still, she insisted, the report is the county’s due diligence.
My due diligence shows that total inflation-adjusted income in Monroe County fell by $2.5 billion, or 13 percent, from 2000 to 2008, the latest data. With such a steep drop in incomes it seems unlikely that Medley Centre sales could grow 14-fold.
Я понимаю, что альтернатива состоит в том, что бизнесы уйдут на Каймановы острова или в Китай или в другой штат, чтобы не платить налоги, а так они остаются в своем штате. Но при этом непонятно, как быть мелким бизнесменам, у которых нет друзей in the high places.
Но в общем как-то лицемерно говорить, что вот мол есть у нас нахлебники, получающие помощь от государства (и включать в нахлебники всех госработников), когда "инвесторы" и "девелоперы" тоже создают свой капитал не без помощи от государства (кредит по более выгодным, чем рыночные, условиям - это ведь тоже помощь).
"If you thought that science was certain - well, that is just an error on your part." Richard Feynman