It’s all about incentives. If states and government are going to give them then people are for certain going to take them. You don’t offer someone free money or a tax break and go on good faith that your investment will be returned, it’s just not a smart thing to do. And yet it’s done all the time and people then wonder why they’re not seeing increased revenue from their investment. Is this for real? Listening to John Oliver telling it is a fun and engaging way to hear about something that might otherwise be one of the most boring and possibly offensive subjects that has ever come up on this show.
So just to be clear, the reason it’s offensive is that while it’s true that the people taking advantage of incentives are not entirely at fault, they’re still a part of the problem. Companies that are granted exemptions from things such as corporate and income tax, along with a few other things, to set up shop in one state or another are not at fault either. In essence it’s the government and state presences that are willing to grant these exemptions and dump truckloads of money into businesses and other projects that need to be watched a little more carefully. The companies also need a bit more supervision as well as a smack upside the head a time or two when some of the truly inane ideas start to pop up, like Noah’s Ark.
It’s an interesting look into the theological past of humanity but the Ark is essentially a multi-million dollar waste of time that doesn’t make a lot of sense when you really think about it. While the novelty of it isn’t a bad thing the overall cost was supposed to be made back in terms of the revenue that it would provide with more people coming by. But really, how many people are going to keep coming to the same museum when nothing changes? Why in the world would they visit the town before or after, or ever again once they’ve seen the place? It was a foolish investment that was given a lot of trust, and a LOT of money, but never produced the kind of payback it was supposed to.
Investments such as these are expected to bring back a good deal of business in turn, which is a big reason why they are given so many incentives. More businesses will set up shop wherever they can receive the most incentives, as this tends to lower the cost of operation by a bit and therefore can allow them to turn a healthier profit. By using the ‘wishing well’ method governments and states are essentially throwing their money down a hole and hoping that by faith and design that they’ll be getting their money back and then some.
Obviously it doesn’t quite work that way. Too many towns and cities have found out the hard way that by granting so many incentives that they will tend to lose control of the situation very quickly. Without as many incentives they might lose a few businesses, but at the very least they won’t lose massive amounts of money.
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