Apparently, you've never heard of property tax breaks. Property tax breaks happen independent of earnings (profit, if you prefer). Property tax breaks are the usual handouts given to business -- including utilities, certainly -- in return for creating new (assume the proper reverence when you read the following magic word) jobs. Oh, was that perhaps the "public good" you meant (jobs)?
Apparently, you've never heard of property tax breaks. Property tax breaks happen independent of earnings (profit, if you prefer). Property tax breaks are the usual handouts given to business -- including utilities, certainly -- in return for creating new (assume the proper reverence when you read the following magic word) jobs. Oh, was that perhaps the "public good" you meant (jobs)?
Yes, I have heard of property tax breaks. Property taxes make a business into an indentured servant to the state by requiring payment even if he doesn't make a profit. They are worse than income taxes because he has to pay the tax even if he doesn't make a profit. If he doesn't perform a useful service to the public (and, yes, create jobs) he won't have his business for very long, the property becomes owned by the state and then no taxes will be collected. But again, no check is drawn on the public treasury in the case of property tax breaks.
They try to justify these tax concessions to proposed new business on the grounds that they create tax revenues where they didn't exist before. But I think tax breaks violate the 14th amendment because it gives an economic advantage to one business over his competitor who has to pay the full tax rate.