| What makes Rick Haglund such a valuable business writer to read? He appears to understand that economic development is something more than an Underpants Gnomes strategy (craft policy, ?, have growth). There is stuff that happens at the state level, and there is stuff that has to take place at the local level. For instance: Tax incentives are like mother's milk to local economic developers who use them to attract new businesses and jobs. Hardly a significant new investment is made in their communities without the use of a property tax abatement or business tax credit, local economic developers tell me.
I think he's maybe touched on this point before, where one political party -- which claims to be the pro-business party -- loudly and vocally shouts about the need to get rid of things like the MEDC and tax incentives. There's sensible reform of tax incentives, and there is mindless shouting about a tool local economic development agencies use to lure new businesses or business expansions to their community. The unintended consequence of that is that while it sounds great for the Lansing-centric crowd, it sends a message to local communities that the state might not actually be open for business. You can kill the economy with a job-killed tax surcharge, or you can kill it by sending a message to people looking to invest that your business environment is not entirely stable. The flip side of this, the alternative to luring new businesses, is something Haglund wrote about a couple of weeks ago -- economic gardening. Put simply, it is planting the seed for a new local business and helping the business owner into a thriving concern. It's based on what Littleton, Colo., did after all its rocket-building facilities shut down. Most local economic development agencies do both, using tax incentives to attract outsiders and nurturing local entrepreneurs, using a veritable alphabet soup of programs and tools. Rick Michigan's comments to me suggest that he's down with tax incentives, but leans more towards economic gardening. Virg, as a working mayor, appears to have embraced both. What would be helpful, and ought to be provided to voters, is a thorough examination of where both candidates stand on how to work with local economic development agencies to grow businesses that produce jobs rather than allowing things to be hijacked by overly simplified recitation of talking points. |
