Toyota announced it is moving 4,000 jobs from all across the country to Texas, consolidating locations currently in California, New York and Kentucky to one corporate campus in Plano. An in-depth article from the Dallas Morning News can be read here.
That's 4,000 jobs for Plano! What a great headline for Plano, the metroplex and Texas. Even better, what a great headline for our politicians. After all, they just created 4,000 jobs for Texans.
What possibly could be wrong with this great job creation news?
Taxpayers just wrote Toyota a $40 million check to move here. It comes from our tax dollars via the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF), a fund filled by our taxes.
Before I go further, a few disclaimers.
I don't blame Toyota for taking the money. Toyota's duty is to their shareholders, not us (the taxpayers), and Toyota is doing a great job. Also, in this article I'm going to be harder on Republicans because they brand themselves as pro-business, less government, free market politicians — all something I believe in. I'd have more respect for a politician if they flat out said they didn't believe in those economic ideas listed above. That being said, you'll never see any letter (D or R) next to my name.
If you're in Plano, you (the city taxpayer) are going to write an even bigger check that will be decided by the Plano city leaders sometime early next week. We wouldn't want those jobs going to McKinney or Frisco.
I'll stop and answer the statement that everyone is thinking by now. "These 4,000 jobs are going to create employees who will now pay taxes, buy homes and contribute to the community. We will all gain so much more for our $40 million gift to Toyota".
Maybe so, but what about you? After all, you're paying for these employees to come. So what do you get, what is your return on the investment? Are your taxes going to go down? Are you going to gain anything? Is your commute going to be shorter? How does it help you, the taxpayers who just paid $10,000 per job to Toyota?
Two major problems.
First, this is seen as a celebration by politicians on both sides. Republicans, like the governor, are getting credit for "creating jobs" and bringing them to Texas.
About that whole "Texas is less government" idea... People seem to judge a politician's success on the unemployment rate. Government doesn't create jobs. If they do, why is there unemployment at all? Shouldn't government make sure all people have a job? Why don't we give credit to Obama for this economic recovery? Why do just the republicans get credit when unemployment is low? Why is this a political issue at all?
It's important to note that many of these jobs are going to Californians that Texans will pay moving expenses for.
Secondly, economics and taxes aside, why do we allow government to pick who does and who doesn't get incentives and tax breaks? Why is government allowed to pick winners and losers? If you're a small business owner, how would you feel if your competition moved in across the street with a $1 million, $5 million or $40 dollar advantage?
What if Bell Helicopter, Raytheon and Lockheed employees woke up to read that Boeing Defense, Space and Security was moving in to Alliance Airport in Fort Worth and received $1 million dollars and didn't have to pay taxes for 10 years?
People (taxpayers) get lost in the political pandering. People want their elected official to look good and to prove to the other side (R or D) how right they are. Moreover, Texans can now boast to the nation that "our way of less government" just slapped (or round-house kicked) our "ideological enemies" of California and New York in the face. Sorry Kentucky, you're still Kentucky.
This is all show. This is target marketing at its finest. We allow ourselves to be divided into Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives. We (taxpayers) are the ones paying for our politicians to capture the national stage. But we want it, and we want them to look good while saying it. If Gov. Rick Perry can evolve his image from that of a Texas A&M country club star to a Californian venture capitalist, then he can surely forget what less government means in favor of what Washington will require for another presidential run.
While we are all distracted with social issues such as pay equality, gay marriage and Donald Sterling, the headline of "Texas Creating Jobs" seems to be the answer for someone looking for a economic reason to celebrate. Nope.
Businesses and politicians in bed together is the ultimate mockery of a free market. Yet we keep allowing it to happen, all in the name of job creation. If Texas is so great for business then taxpayers should stop having to pay businesses to come. If we produce talent, the high paying companies will follow.
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