History may often rhyme, but legislation lacks the imagination to do that, so it shows up with new names for previously rejected programs. The North Carolina Rural Job Creation Fund is this year’s iteration of the New Markets Tax Credit, which Becki Gray noted at the time was simply crony capitalism. If it were an honest attempt to address critical needs, you could almost forgive the bill sponsors for trying to change a federally sponsored tax credit that rewards well-connected “qualified community development entities” who can work the system into a state-provided grant that rewards well-connected “rural funds” who can work the system. Adding insult to injury, the legislative language was shoehorned into a bill (SB223)originally intended to deal with habitual felons.
North Carolina has tried multiple ways to lure companies to rural parts of the state, with little to show for the effort. Companies still locate where it makes strategic sense to locate. Rather than create a new set of complicated rules about who can do what and where, legislators would do better to remove statutory and regulatory burdens that make it difficult for customers and companies alike to thrive in rural communities.
