Category Archives: Economic development

This week, in Rockingham Now, Brian Carlton wrote about a new incentive package for two businesses expanding their operations in Reidsville.  Both companies currently have operations there, but the money they’ll get from the city and county is supposed to aid their growth and thereby facilitate job creation. The incentives total almost $200,000 and areContinue Reading

The Great Gatsby is a story set in Long Island. The state of New York offers production companies an even more aggressive array of film incentives than North Carolina, including a 30 percent, fully refundable tax credit. This is a no-brainer, right? “Gatsby” would obviously be filmed in its natural home. Well, it’s not soContinue Reading

Not to be outdone by solar, the film industry in North Carolina is performing a redoubtable Incentives Dance – and they’ve added a new twist on it by suggesting that the mere appearance of a bill to tweak the industry’s tax credits is already hurting business. Several recent news articles across the state have highlightedContinue Reading

Barry Smith reports for Carolina Journal Online about a new state audit that slams North Carolina government’s information technology cost overruns. Jon Sanders’ Daily Journal lauds an effort to study the real impact of targeted tax breaks in North Carolina.

One of the many problems with the state film tax incentives is that they are refundable. As I wrote in my report N.C.’s Film Tax Incentives: Good Old-Fashioned Corporate Welfare: Furthermore, in North Carolina, the film tax credits could exceed a film production company’s total tax liability, in which case the state would issue aContinue Reading

News 14 Carolina asked the John Locke Foundation to respond during ”Capital Tonight” to Gov. Pat McCrory’s plan to privatize some functions of the N.C. Commerce Department.

Gov. Pat McCrory heard a lot of requests for help from local officials on Wednesday when he met with the North Carolina League of Municipalities. The organization had 500 members present in Raleigh during the organization’s Town Hall Day, which included visits to the House and Senate. But what stood out in sharp relief toContinue Reading

An advisory committee for Wake County School System recommends the school board to enact district policy to ban the sale of unhealthy foods for any fundraisers, and activities OUTSIDE of school hours.  Now PTAs and Booster Clubs attention quickly turns to where they get money to help with school activities.  Of course, the “Food Police”Continue Reading