Thursday, February 15, 2007

GOVERNMENT BY INTUITION

Lenoir city and Caldwell County officials apparently did not do their homework about the economic costs/benefits of granting Google several decades' worth of tax exemptions (according to the AP).

"Intuitively, the numbers showed it was a good deal," Lenoir City Manager Lane Bailey said.
Records show that city and county tax breaks given to Google amount to $165 million over 30 years, in addition to state tax breaks and incentives totaling $94 million. The incentives package is among the richest in state history.
So now that the deal is done, local "economic development officials" have decided to do the study of the economic impact. Won't THAT be something, if it shows anything less that what "intuition" has hoped for?

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