SWOPblogger

Was Intel bluffing a move overseas to get tax breaks? It's a question finally posed by Daniel Sorid for Reuters.

from the article:

- "The question of are they bluffing or not, I think, is kind of open ended," said Dan Hutcheson, the chief executive of VLSI Research and a well-known advisor to the chip industry. On the one hand, he said, Intel has many valuable offers from overseas governments, but it also faces an estimated $200 million in extra costs to build a factory on a brand new site.

- "That's what companies do these days -- they play hardball and they try to absolutely minimize their state and local taxes, even when it's not a major contributor," said Michael Mazerov, a policy analyst at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities.

- "It's corrosive," said Greg LeRoy, the director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization, and author of the newly published book, "The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation."

Karlos says:

That giant sucking sound everyone's always talking about is really all those tax dollars turned profit from Intel leaving the state. Oh yeah, and a desert state's water being pumped out of the ground.

Folks really should follow the links provided in this post and find out more about how large corporations are pitting states against each other in a race to the bottom in terms of wages and environmental standards.

Following secret negotions between Intel and two Sandoval County Commissioners, Intel made out with at least $2 billion in tax breaks and handouts. (Journal username = free | password = free)

And it's not only Intel, but the Fulcrums, Sumitomos and Motorolas of the world who have taken New Mexico for all we've got. After years of a strategy to lure companies with large tax breaks and incentives, what do we have to show for it? We're still 47th in per capita income, our schools and health care systems are still under valued and under funded, and working families still struggle to pay the bills.

This issue really is about the state's children and our future.