State programs giving tax breaks to business for job creation are frequently major rip-offs

The justification frequently put forth when a company comes asking for these tax breaks is that it creates jobs. Not just jobs, but jobs that pay better. 43 percent of these breaks are not job creators but "glorified corporate welfare.

Translate that into cash and it comes out to $8 billion a year.

Good Jobs First looked at 238 programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Included in these programs are corporate income tax credits (for job creation, capital investment, research and development), cash grants, low?cost or forgivable loans, enterprise zones, reimbursement for worker-training expenses and other company-specific state assistance. Each program was rated (1 to 100) on three primary criteria (and some derivative qualities): whether they require recipient companies to meet job quantifiable performance standards; whether the subsidized companies pay their workers above a certain wage level; and whether the companies provide their workers health-care coverage or other benefits.

Of the 238 programs, 103, totaling $7 billion in annual incentives/subsidies, had no job-performance standards.

Only 98 of the programs impose a wage requirement on subsidized employers and only 53 of those are tied to labor market rates.

Only 11 (5 percent) of those wage requirements raise wage levels by mandating rates that are slightly above existing market average in a region or industrial sector.

The average of the wage requirements is $14.

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