Posted on 07/29/2017 8:01:25 AM PDT by Lorianne
Gov. Scott Walker wants state taxpayers to dole out up to $250 million annually in incentives to Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn to lure a manufacturing plant to Wisconsin that he claims will generate $181 million in tax revenue.
Think about that. Gov. Walker proposes we pay about $70 million more a year in incentives to a foreign corporation than will flow back to our state coffers. Does that sound like a good deal to you?
And this is just one detail that requires us to be wary about what is being described by proponents as the largest job announcement in Wisconsin history.
The actors involved in this deal, negotiated in secret, have the kind of track record that inspires suspicion, not trust.
Foxconn has a long history of overpromising and under delivering on its claims of investments and job creation. For example, Pennsylvania is still waiting on hundreds of promised jobs created at a $30 million facility announced in 2013 that has yet to materialize.
Are they really preparing to invest such huge sums in Wisconsin and create well-paying jobs when they are lowering costs in factories in China by replacing workers making less than $4 per hour with robots?
According to reports, in this year alone Foxconn has announced more in commitments for capital spending than their parent company has made in the last nearly quarter century.
SNIP
Since when is a tax cut plus the employment of 10’s of thousands of people, all tax payers themselves, a bad thing?
If the company didn’t come, the tax income would be zero. So they aren’t giving anything away.
Of the billions paid to Wisconsins public employees, how much of it flows back to the state coffers? Just askin'.
Yes, not all the math is being done here. Tens of thousands of workers paying taxes, purchasing goods and services within Wisconsin with their salaries. This the the multiplier effect that fueled the Reagan boom of the 1980s.
Since we don’t know which taxes are included in the $181 million the article and its claims are meaningless. The Wisconsin State Journal is a left wing Madison paper.
Is the $181M just corporate taxes? Does it include employee personal income taxes? Property taxes? Sales taxes? Gas taxes for transportation? And so on...
This is just a liberal hit piece.
JOBS mean nothing to Democrats and Liberuls
YES.
Does not appear to be any’direct subsidies’.
It could be but it raises some legitimate questions, such as why they haven not followed through in neighboring states.
Also all papers in WI are liberal as far as am aware.
The surrounding businesses will make up the difference plus more. Suppliers, service people etc will make more and pay more. You also need to know they will not be writing a check, they will he granting tax relief.
And the Pennsylvania example cited is a red herring - the deal is in limbo until Pennsylvania coughs up some incentives - and it a paltry $30 million not $10 Billion ...
If $181 million flow into the state’s coffers as a result of the deal, what does it matter which tax? Most likely from the taxes paid by the plant, and the taxes paid by the workers after the plant is built.
None of this mentions that the Foxconn money is from China/Taiwan which is “new” money - US currency currently held abroad returning to the US. That money is not a local bank loan (which merely circulates money from one US source account to another), but is a real infusion. And that is just for starters ...
If the state does not come up with the incentives, then Foxconn will build its 8K screen plant somewhere else. And none of the other associated industries will come here.
The economic impact is usually not as good as the politicians tell us but it is new jobs.
Scott Ross (the author) is a far leftist whose opinion is irrelevant.
This goes back to a basic conservative principle: Government should not be in the business of ‘helping’ business, other than by providing a good environment for business to prosper.
Wisconsin will end up like Oregon, with Nike threatening to leave, holding jobs hostage for additional tax benefits.
It’s a bad idea, pure & simple.
Tax cuts are NEVER a bad idea. Ever. The 10s of thousands of jobs are worth it.
Yes, another good point which the author, where he aware enough, should have brought up.
Tax cuts in general are a good idea, yes.
Tax cuts for ‘some’ is not a good idea.
Also the perverse incentives Twotone brought up are a serious issue that should be considered by those who might benefit from those jobs.
Tax benefits to a single entity, over EVERYONE ELSE, is ALWAYS a bad idea. Government isn’t there to pick & choose favorites.
They try to "poo-poo" anything positive for America.
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