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(01-11-2018 09:54 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  My point is there would have more if those companies were paying their share of taxes. Four thousand mid-level jobs are good, sure, but they aren't even close to what the plant itself would be paying. Same goes when there are sales tax rebates for a new Walmart. Again, I'm not saying it's clear cut in either direction, but giving multi-billion dollar international companies essentially tax free status is not sustainable, not to mention unfair for local companies who don't get sweetheart deals like that

Alabama will invest nearly a billion dollars in this plant. UAB generates $25 for every $1 of state funding. Imagine if *half* that much were put into UAB instead

The alternative is not getting the company to come here at all and just keeping our tax base the same as it was yesterday. What we have today is more than we had before the announcement no matter what the incentive package is. The only direct payout reported was for the building of a training facility to train Alabamians. It's simple: if you want businesses to move here, you give them deals. I think our growing automobile manufacturing industry has shown that we are making some good decisions in that regard.

The state of North Carolina offered a $1.5 Billion incentive package to Toyota-Mazda to relocate there. The state of Alabama's package is only $380 Million. It's hard to see the negatives here unless you're just wanting to be negative.

(01-11-2018 09:54 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  And to address your "patently false" claim, at the risk of sounding like a certain poster here, check out education funding in Alabama over the past 12 years and tell me that everything is fine with Alabama's tax base

The state of Alabama funds education at a higher level than most other states. The statistics you see incorporate all funding (including county and city funding), so they're flawed when talking about the state government alone. The problem with education funding in this state stems from local municipalities not paying enough. It isn't the state.

That isn't a problem in Hoover, Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Huntsville, etc, but it is a problem in the majority of the state.