On Topic: Why Tax Breaks Aren’t The Worst Thing

Why give tax incentives to ethanol companies, Iowa State University economist Dave Swenson reasoned, when they’re going to have to come here anyway? Iowa, after all, is where the corn is.To be clear, he’s not against using incentives entirely, but more as what he sees as an overuse — they’re good for aiding blighted parts of a community, bad as an all-purpose, any-occasion economic tool.“A lot of the money is being used for firms that would have expanded or located here nonetheless,” Swenson elaborated.