Chris Christie and John Kasich have done some great things, but the New Jersey and Ohio governors are among those state leaders who deserve raspberries for continuing to play the targeted corporate incentives game, as documented in the latest Bloomberg Businessweek.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, a first-term Republican who criticized “corporate welfare” as chairman of the House Budget Committee from 1995 to 2000, says states have no choice but to be in the game. “When other states come in and they offer significant ways for people to have lower costs, you either compete with it and win, or you lose,” he said in an Apr. 14 interview in Columbus.
While there’s good reason to question how much “vital spending” must be cut in state government budgets to afford the targeted tax breaks and grants states are doling out, there’s certainly no reason to continue forcing taxpayers to bear the brunt of these sweetheart deals.
By the way, a graphic associated with the print version of this article groups North Carolina with Oklahoma, Utah, and Ohio as notable incentives offenders — citing the Tar Heel State’s $46 million break for Apple.
