County loses every time council bribes company

County loses every time council bribes company
Editor’s note: Lancaster resident Bill Craig wrote the following letter to members of Lancaster County Council.
I hope you and other members of Lancaster County Council read Will Tindal’s guest column, “Emperor has no clothes,” in the March 9 edition of The Lancaster News.
Will, who is much more gifted in writing than most of us, voices the opinion of many tax-paying citizens of Lancaster County. Many of us simply do not understand why council continues to give newcomers tax breaks to get them to bring their businesses into the county, even though they then do not hire Lancaster County residents as employees.
It does not appear reasonable to allow these companies to keep their tax breaks if they just move across county lines to take advantage of lower taxes and bring their employees with them.
We all want more jobs for Lancaster County, but more jobs for Lancaster County should mean more jobs for people who live in Lancaster County. After all, tax breaks, which, by the way, I do not think are effective – we just do it because everybody else does, are a subsidy for selective businesses, for example, those who are moving into the county.
It really seems like every time the county bribes another company to come into the county, the county loses tax revenue, gains few jobs and probably increases the county’s population – thereby increasing the need for additional services. This has happened so many times that it would seem County Council would wise up. Bragging rights for getting new businesses means nothing unless jobs for citizens follow.
Mr. Tindal is also right-on with his analysis of the Haile Gold Mine subsidy. Why would any reasonable person give tax breaks to a company that had to come here if it wanted the gold that is here? The company certainly can’t get the gold that is here by going somewhere else.

Bill Craig
Lancaster