Bev Pimps Out Taxpayers
Inspired by a few compliments from some visiting corporate consultants who gushed over uptown Charlotte’s trinkets and toys, Gov. Bev Perdue has apparently gone bat-guano crazy and is in a complete lather to take as much of your hard-earned coin as possible and use it as de facto bribe money to recruit businesses to North Carolina. The quote from WBTV:
Perdue told consultants to give their clients a message. “I’m saying I will have any kind of discussion with you about what it takes to bring them here for a look. I will try to match any incentive package in the country.”
The consultants were apparently quite taken by uptown’s swank new Ritz Carlton hotel and the new Bechtler modern art museum, explaining that those types of amenities provide the quality of life their corporate clients want.
OK, fine; got no problem with a bunch of fat cats wanting to get sauced at the Ritz and traipse over to the Bechtler. But here’s the rub: in the case of the Bechtler, along with a horde of other uptown goodies funded in part or whole with local taxpayer dollars, we were told, repeatedly, that it was worth the public investment because the amenities would help attract businesses.
But the Wow factor obviously isn’t pulling its whole freight, else why would Gov. Bev be doing cartwheels to dole out incentive money to lure corporate clients into the fold.
We’d all be better served and the state would have a better chance of actually landing new companies without dipping into the taxpayers’ pocket, if Perdue would spend half as much time trying to cut taxes, eliminate bureaucratic red tape for businesses, and improve public safety, as she does wining, dining and throwing out offers of big money to corporate consultants.
But then again, what fun would that be for Bev?
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