By Edythe Jensen | Arizona Capitol Times correspondent
Arizona’s city, county and state governments are handing out billions in economic development incentives to attract business — but not without resistance from critics who dispute their necessity.
Incentives are vital tools in cut-throat competition for major corporations and high-paying jobs, proponents say. Detractors claim they allow government to pick winners and losers at taxpayer expense, are costly and unfair.
Incentive lists are long and the programs complex: government-funded infrastructure, sales tax rebates, property tax reductions, job grants and tax credits. Both sides say the lures are commonplace across the nation because large corporations have grown to expect them and the skilled players know how to play one state or city against another.
How successful they have been in Arizona depends on who’s talking.
