SC set to give $115 Million corporate welfare check

I assume they will have and buy cars. Dealerships get $$$. Gas stations get $$$. If they have kids, they may need diapers. They will need to eat. They will have to live somewhere (rent/mortgage). They will have to have bank accounts. Property taxes. Hotels will need to be built to house visitors. Do I need to keep going? The list is nearly endless. Whatever your expenses are, they will have.

Do you have a clue how much money BMW has brought to the upstate in SC? I remember when Carrol Campbell gave them all kinds of incentives and he was derided just as McMaster is today. Well...not only has BMW repaid those incentives, but the growth and associated businesses and jobs that came with BMW have "repaid" those incentives countless times over. If you give a business a $115 million tax break and then that brings in $200 million in additional taxes, that's +$200 million. There is no "cost".

As for your link, I stopped at the second paragraph because that does not apply to what SC just passed. This is purely a tax and fee reduction. No loans. No taxpayer dollars spent. But I kept going. Taxpayers do not FINANCE A TAX ABATEMENT. And even in our SC example, it's a tax reduction. The only abatement is for fees like a business license, etc. Furthermore, the article fails to address businesses LEAVING states due to not having incentives. Stop the incentives, they will go elsewhere. As for why SC sucks, it's because we have some of the most unskilled labor in America. Incentives are worthless if the labor force SC offers is unskilled. Boeing came to SC because of our lower taxes, some incentives, but mainly to avoid union wages. The biggest expense for Boeing coming to SC is in training a labor force for their jobs. They did a calculation and between lower taxes, lower non-union wages, etc. it paid off for them. The cost of relocation for businesses moving to SC is huge because we have so few people skilled already here. I just worked on a case with a guy who worked for a subcontractor for BMW. He was from Slovenia. They paid him to come to Greer to BMW to work. That's the real problem we have in SC. Education.

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It never ceases to amaze me how people fall for this

Mar 28, 2019, 8:36 AM

over, and over, and over again.

There is no "gift". There is no "cost" to taxpayers. They are giving them ZERO taxpayer money. Taxpayers have a net gain from this, not a loss of $115 million. The "gift" is that they are not going to TAKE as much from them, in taxes and fees, as they otherwise would IF THEY COME HERE. There is no COST to taxpayers for promising not to take as much from them in taxes as an incentive. In fact, the surrounding businesses that support the company and workers will have increased taxes, both local sales taxes, and other forms. Real estate taxes go up as new employees move into the area, etc. It's the same line of thinking that your federal and state tax refunds are a "gift". It's YOUR freaking money, not the government's.

But read this article, with a clear agenda due to the attacks on the profession of the owner of the team, and you would think SC is using money people have paid to the state of SC in taxes to GIVE to the team to bring them here. Absolutely FALSE. When government votes to reduce your personal taxes do you see that as a GIFT? They're promising to take less of your money. And that's a GIFT? For it to be a gift you have to operate under the assumption that your own earned money is the government's to GIVE you to you in the first place. It isn't.

Here's the bill:
A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 12-6-3360, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE JOB TAX CREDIT, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM; TO AMEND SECTION 4-9-30, RELATING TO THE DESIGNATION OF POWERS UNDER THE ALTERNATE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE LEVY OF COUNTY LICENSE FEES AND TAXES ON A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM; TO AMEND SECTION 5-7-30, RELATING TO POWERS OF A MUNICIPALITY, SO AS TO PROHIBIT THE LEVY OF A BUSINESS LICENSE TAX ON A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM; AND BY ADDING SECTION 5-3-20 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE REAL PROPERTY OWNED BY A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM MAY NOT BE ANNEXED BY A MUNICIPALITY WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM.

SO....the team doesn't have to pay a county licensing fee, Team doesn't have to purchase a business license. Team can not have their real property annexed by a town as a tax grab. And the job tax credit is a reduction in income taxes on jobs for the team. PLEASE tell me where the citizens of SC are exchanging a penny of their hard-earned money to "give" anything to this team? The state of SC is simply agreeing to TAKE LESS FROM THEM. And even if the business ends up failing, and everyone decries the loss of all these incentives, it's not a LOSS. Even the failed business provided a NET GAIN for the state coffers. Decades ago BMW received huge incentives (similarly attacked) that have paid off probably 20 fold or more over the years. Boeing too.

Anyway, it's just ignorance and it pains me every time to see people just eat it up to perpetuate whatever agenda they have.

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SC set to give $115 Million corporate welfare check

So without looking at the details, I have to ask, where did

Maybe, but ability to pay

umm...wha?...

It's the anger at one business paying less taxes than the

Where is the evidence

Where was the evidence for BMW, Boeing, Michelin

So you are the saying the state is swimming

We've had budget surplus's for the past 3 years

I'm stopping. He long ago entered troll territory.***

no you're not....come on...

Wow. I never knew if I worked for Michelin, BMW, Boeing

Everything is about net increase in receipts....

Well...

I understand, there are net benefits to the economy

The state of SC is not "giving" them one single taxpayer

It never ceases to amaze me how people fall for this

you are wrong, here’s why

"Any potential tax... "

If they don’t come, we actually have less

No, I don't think i'll be doing that today.

You're assuming that the businesses will automatically be

Do you have a pic of this “check”?

Where does one cash those?

Opportunity costs

Explain to me how you would have a higher tax burden

Primarily it is infrastructure

You do realize that the tax incentives are for the company..

So think about this...

show me empirical evidence

I'm glad you're on board for equality in taxation***

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