$100 million in taxpayer assistance<\/a> to build this new mall.<\/p>\nThis would be bad: Because it will not create any additional economic activity; and because it perpetuates our state\u2019s failed (and corrupt) \u201cpay to play\u201d system of economic development.<\/p>\n
A recent study of tax incentives for \u201cextraordinary retail operations\u201d by the economist Michael J. Hicks concluded that the entrance of large-scale specialty retail stores has a negligible impact on the economy of the surrounding counties. The overall economic pie does not grow; there is simply a shift in retail consumption patterns. In short, it\u2019s a bad investment of taxpayer money.<\/p>\n
But beyond its ineffectiveness as a means of promoting economic activity, the proposed deal is symptomatic of a larger problem \u2013 \u201ccrony capitalism.\u201d The key to getting ahead in America used to be having a good idea and then working hard to implement it. Now the key is milking government connections in order to get special favors that provide a leg up on the competition.<\/p>\n
Government at both the national and state levels has become a \u201cfavor factory\u201d for those who can afford this \u201cpay to play\u201d game. The rules are simple: contribute money to elected officials, hire lobbyists with personal connections to committee chairmen, retain the private attorneys who actually draft the complicated tax bills, and then watch as the (taxpayer) money comes rolling in.<\/p>\n
Politicians love doing these deals; it\u2019s a win-win for them. They get money for their campaign coffers and credit for \u201cdoing something\u201d to create jobs.\u00a0 They simply ignore the boring economic studies showing how these special deals are awaste of the taxpayers\u2019 money.\u00a0 That sort of grim data simply doesn\u2019t play well on television, but ribbon-cutting ceremonies for incentivized deals sure do.<\/p>\n
This statist approach to \u201ceconomic development\u201d is rotten, and one reason why special tax breaks in South Carolina doled out by the General Assembly have skyrocketed in the past decade from $32 million to $254 million a year.<\/p>\n
And the sky is the limit: There are currently 377 lobbyists representing 534 companies and organizations at the State House, and far too many are simply scratching and clawing to get favors and unfair competitive advantages for their clients.<\/p>\n
This is \u201ccrony capitalism,\u201d pure and simple, a corrupt merger of big business and big government. And it is the antithesis of the free market \u2014 of a system where companies are forced to improve productivity, reduce prices and innovate, and where consumers are rewarded with lower prices, higher quality and wider choice. In a system of \u201ccrony capitalism,\u201d companies don\u2019t achieve success in the marketplace by innovating or competing; they buy it at the State House.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t blame Sembler for hiring lobbyists, lawyers and PR consultants to seek $100 million-plus in public assistance for its new mall; that\u2019s simply good business. A study by economic professors at the University of Kansas found that for every dollar spent in lobbying, $220 worth of special favors are obtained. Sembler would be committing corporate malpractice if it didn\u2019t play the game.<\/p>\n
But I do blame lawmakers for providing special treatment for a select few when they should be looking out for the public good. There is a growing sense that South Carolina has a political system that is about dispensing favors, with people buying access and Columbia picking winners and losers. And I think people are sick of it.<\/p>\n
Political favors and backroom deal-making have hurt our state enough already. We need to end the corrupt politics of favoritism and cut taxes for everyone, across the board, so that all citizens and businesses pay lower taxes, not just the politically connected. Lower taxes for everyone promotes free market entrepreneurship and discovery \u2014 the true sources of prosperity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNEW JOBS \u2013 EXPANDED TAX BASE \u2013 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION\u201d \u2013 what\u2019s wrong with that? Absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n
Just take your hand out of my pocket<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was going to write a post about the current legislation before the Senate known as the “Sembler Bill”, but Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) articulates this issue very well: By Sen. Tom Davis || The Sembler Company recently ran a full-page ad in local newspapers in Beaufort County attempting to rally public support for its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2gEQ0-R4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinbryant.com\/kbarchive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}