I was reading this article about an aviation company near my hometown that is growing and came across this gem:
However, he told the airport authority that property taxes are the company’s biggest challenge and that a 10-year tax abatement on the paint facility the company built in 2003 is about to expire. Hyland said property taxes will increase from the current $150,000 to about $220,000 in 2013.
Really? You are making investments on the order of millions of dollars and your biggest roadblock to creating 300 jobs over the next ten years is $70,000 a year in taxes?
This is the epitome of Republican politics that just pisses me off. There are far too many companies that are growing right now, yet they feel they are above having to pay the taxes that pay for the infrastructure that protects them.
These coo panties jump to brag about all the jobs they’re creating and may even imply that they shouldn’t have to pay taxes because of the jobs they’re creating. They feel that their workers should pay taxes on their income, but they ought to be exempt from it.
From a business standpoint this is a logical way to improve revenue. Instead of actually doing work to improve your revenues, just ask the government to give you a tax break and bat your eyes talking about all those jobs you created and how it would be a real shame if those jobs weren’t in the area anymore.
Then, when the local government realizes it’s in the red, it’s these business leaders that are telling citizens how they are living out of their means, expecting too many government services when in fact citizens have been silently paying all of the taxes they are expected to, and these businesses are the real ones getting a free ride. This isn’t okay, and we need to let go of this notion that we need to bend over backwards to have a chance to eat the leftovers left by these businesses’ massive success.
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