There’s a sucker born every minute, they say, which might
explain why state legislatures and city councils count so many of them among
their members. As I noted here and here,
spending the public’s good money to entice large corporations to do business in
one’s home state or city is folly.
From a recent report by the State Journal-Register‘s
Tim Landis: Construction in 2007 of AIG American General’s $25 million office
building on Hollis Drive was aided by sales tax exemptions from the City of
Springfield and $2.8 million in job creation and retention tax credits from the
state. The aid, writes Landis, was “offered out of concern at the time
that AIG might leave Springfield without the incentives.”
On September 7 we learned that AIG American
General will leave Springfield even with the incentives.
This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2016.
