JLF’s Jon Sanders looks at the prospect of North Carolina landing Amazon’s second headquarters. It would be great to have them here, he writes, but the asking price is far too high, particularly when you consider this:
They may be overlooked, but 99.7 percent of all businesses are small businesses, sole proprietorships, and “Mom & Pop” ventures. They create jobs and power the economy — but they do it quietly.
Unlike Amazon, these businesses don’t create big, splashy headlines when they start, grow, expand, make hires, etc. Their effects on the economy, impressive as they are, only become evident over time or in compiled statistics rather than corporate press releases.
Here’s the rub: If we are to believe that North Carolina’s taxes are too high for the likes of Amazon, then we have to believe they’re too high for Mom & Pop, too.
Jon makes his full case against special breaks for Amazon here.
