Scout Motors Boondoggle: More Subsidies In The Works?

These manufacturers have multiple states vying for their business. To say that they needed the money to locate in SC isn’t to say they couldn’t open a plant without it. It means that they need that much to locate here, rather than somewhere else. It’s pay-to-play where the manufacturer has the upper hand. A lot of folks have no problem playing those games, which is why counties and cities all have their own economic development organizations. Sadly, it’s the way of our world, but it’s nothing new. This kind of stuff has been going on for decades. It seems that most folks like the overall economic boost that comes from having a large, successful employer in their area. Just look at the impact that BMW has had on the upstate, not only with it’s direct investment, but with the growth of other companies that popped up to support it. I dare say that their positive economic contribution has greatly offset any taxpayer investment.

Now, if we want to talk about the preservation of what is left of our state’s rural character, and the damage to it that is done by attracting industrial growth, that’s another matter. But to think that this state is going to attract major industrial and commercial growth by altering our individual and corporate income tax rates is just fantasy.