Incentives, TARP and Abel Harding

I'm going to step away from Ethics & Politics for a minute (sort of) to give a shout out to Abel Harding.

Mr. Harding, you may know, is the editor and founder of the excellent blog, Jacksonville Politics Online. He is now working for the Florida Times-Union as a columnist, and I strongly urge everyone to check out his work. He's a smart guy and he's got some strong insight into both business and politics.

His post in today's Times-Union discusses not just the price we all (as US taxpayers) pay in the fall of CIT, but also the price paid especially by Jacksonville and Florida taxpayers.

Mr. Harding notes that the Jacksonville City Council approved a JEDC plan to award a $3,000 tax credit to CIT for every job created in Jacksonville by CIT. While I understand that a City needs to do what a City needs to do to bring in good jobs & industry (and this was in 2006), in hindsight, it seems like the JEDC & City Council's bet wasn't a good one.

There's no real ethical dilemma here - but this is a good opportunity for us to remember that it's a good idea to think twice before awarding tax breaks, cash incentives, or other deals to large businesses who may not be as strong as they'd like one to believe.

In any event, I hope you all check out Mr. Harding's columns in the Times-Union and check out his blog as well. He's a smart guy, and worth reading.