The standoff between Gov. Easley and the Legislature over the Goodyear Tire Co. giveaway ended up costing the state $60 million instead of the original $40 million. Although the cost to the state increased, Becki Gray and many staff members (including the work done by Joe Coletti in a Press Release and Fayetteville Observer article) at the JLF did a tremendous job of providing information showing the ineffectiveness of a state-sponsored incentive policy for businesses, especially those that are already committed to the state. While the overall battle was lost, a core anti-incentive legislative group was formed, and for that, the state can be thankful. Change will be slow. In the meantime, tax dollars and Tax-Increment Financing will continue to go towards ill-advised investment, like Kannapolis’s research campus.
State Incentives
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