Governor Markell on the WaPo Editorial Page
Yesterday, Governor Jack Markell had an editorial published in the OpEd section of the Washington Post. Titled Taxes are the wrong focus for economic growth, he makes the case that businesses want to be in places with a good quality of life — where talented people and their families want to live:
The number of business leaders who asked me to lower their taxes can be counted on one hand. Perhaps that’s because they recognize they get great value in Delaware already. But what I hear most from business leaders is that they want the government to continue to improve our schools, reduce the time it takes to issue permits and licenses, enhance our transportation infrastructure, protect our arts community, strengthen linkages between our institutions of higher education and local companies, and be responsive.
It is always a good reminder that taxes paid isn’t especially high on the list of business issues for job creation (with the possible exception of manufacturing, and that is about tariffs). Which isn’t to say that are plenty of businesses who have figured out how to get a revenue stream of taxpayer dollars that they actually depend upon for profitability. This, I think, is part of the “race to the bottom” that Governor Markell writes of. Because if you are throwing money at businesses, you certainly aren’t in much of a position to improve education or to improve the environment or even your transportation systems. And you won’t keep many of those businesses if these elements are missing.
He comes down firmly in favor of investing to compete:
President Obama has appropriately focused in recent months on the need to out-innovate other countries. But where will the innovation come from if we don’t make necessary investments in federally funded research? Who will take innovation to market if we don’t help millions of workers retool their skills with appropriate job training? How will we get these new goods to market cost-effectively if we don’t improve our infrastructure? These are precisely the investments other nations are making. We must, too.
You should read the whole thing — he does take the opportunity to contrast his approach with Scott Walker’s. Noting that while Walker is working on destruction (and one that may have some blowback to local businesses, one bank has already had issues), he is working at compromise with local unions on pension and medical costs. I do wonder though, that if businesspeople already see Delaware as a great value for their taxes, why it is that we are not taking better steps to more broadly share the pain of this downturn?
I came away with the same question. Why does Governor Markell acknowledge that employers want high quality services for themselves and their employees, but rejects the idea that our wealthiest individuals and corporations should pay their fair share for those services?
More importantly, why are we listening to a guy that has fewer people working in his state than he did the day he took office and whose state has been shedding jobs since as recently as July?
Jack Markell is a myth.
We don’t measure governors by job creation. Anyone who does is a jackath.
Geezer: he wrote an op-ed advising how to grow the economy and add jobs. I thought it would be worth pointing out that he’s done neither.
Technically he has created jobs. Just not as many as he’s lost.
Was there anything in the WaPo article about closing job exporting loopholes?
Having quality of life in place means nothing if a company can export jobs to Pakistan and get a tax break in the process.
Perhaps the Gov. could get some insight from his wealthy business friends and ask them why that arent’ creating jobs and what would it take to get them off their asses.
I find it interesting that he (a) first stated that business leaders are not pushing him for lower taxes and (b) that he did not foreclose the possibility of some tax hikes as a means of helping to balance the budget.
At the least, he gave himself some wiggle room. And he may be sending a subtle signal that his opposition to some new ‘revenue enhancement’ is not set in stone.
Sometimes, it’s not what you say, but what you don’t say that is the most newsworthy.
On job creation, he’s dancing as fast as he can, and he’s had some successes. Face it folks, the economy sucks everywhere. I shudder to think what some of these other bozos would have done here under the same circumstances. I think Jack and his team are excellent on job creation, and it sure as hell ain’t their fault that companies like Wilmington Trust gambled themselves into oblivion.
I just hope that they recognize that shared sacrifice means that everyone has to sacrifice, not only those who have the least to sacrifice.
Today’s news: Big tax credits extended for job creation. *eye roll*
As a business man I can tell you that we don’t need tax breaks to create jobs. We need demand.