Monday, January 21, 2008

The Cost of Free Enterprise

One can hardly imagine a more conservative, Republican, pro-free-enterprise, anti-tax town than Sugar Land, right? They don't even have a bus system, for pete's sake! So what are we to make of this?

The City of Sugar Land has approved a $2.4 million direct incentive to Minute Maid for its planned move to town from Houston.

"It's the largest direct incentive we have provided to date to any company," said Joe Esch, executive director of business and intergovernmental relations for the City of Sugar Land.

Boy, if I owned a business in Sugar Land that wasn't getting a subsidy from the city government, I'd be pissed! I guess free enterprise isn't really all that free.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:39 PM

    I'm sure the people of Sugar Land and local business owners will not mind when property values and revenues go up as a result of more jobs moving to Sugar Land. Keep in mind, the city is not paying Minute Maid to move there, they are only "lowering" their tax burden, which is what most conservatives want anyway...

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  2. Robert Boyd8:29 PM

    I may have misread this article (back in January), but "direct incentive" sounds like subsidy to me. Or bribe.

    But even if it were a tax break, do you think some businesses should pay less than other businesses? Do you think new businesses should pay less taxes than existing businesses? Is that fair? Just wondering.

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