Greensboro News & Record reports on a bill introduced yesterday that will offer more incentives to big businesses looking to come to the area.
A Republican-sponsored bill, introduced Tuesday, aims to make North Carolina more attractive for recruiting corporate headquarters, particularly to Charlotte and the Triangle.
Senate Bill 820 will increase the amount of incentives per job created from up to $6,500 to up to $16,000 through the Job Development Investment Grant program. The bill would work by raising the per-employee tax withholdings cap by those amounts.
Bill sponsors are Sens. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, and John Alexander, R-Wake. All three won re-election in the general election.
The incentives are being aimed at corporations with high-earning employees, defined as $150,000 or more.
Mitch tells News & Record that the best incentives are those that every business can benefit from, not incentives like Senate Bill 820 that is only for big companies to attract them to come to the area.
Mitch Kokai, policy analyst with Libertarian think tank John Locke Foundation, said the bill co-sponsors “seem to believe that North Carolina hasn’t been paying these companies enough money to get the types of jobs politicians want to see.”
“The best incentives are those that create a better economic playing field for every business: big or small, new or old.”
