Tax Credits for Phantom Jobs
An audit of New Jersey’s business ‘incentives’ makes for grim reading.
As controversy continues to swirl around Amazon’s sweet HQ2 deal in Long Island City, N.Y., there’s a warning from across the Hudson River about the perils of playing the corporate “incentives” game. After scrutinizing New Jersey’s efforts to trade business tax credits for jobs, the state comptroller this month released a weapons-grade audit.
Over roughly a decade and a half, New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority has approved—though mostly not yet paid out—$10.9 billion in tax incentives tied to 161,804 new jobs and...