Most job-growth incentives in North Carolina go to wealthy urban areas, liberal group's report finds

North Carolina spends a large portion of its business incentives on wealthy, urban areas, leaving rural areas, including the state's most distressed, with far less money to improve the local economy, Allan Freyer writes for the Budget and Tax Center, part of the left-leaning North Carolina Justice Center. About 56 percent of incentives since 2007 have gone to the urban counties that include Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham.

Freyer's report also says the state "has awarded more than triple the amount of incentive dollars to projects in the wealthiest 20 counties than projects in the state’s 40 most distressed counties," Freyer writes. "The state's incentive projects promised to create or retain two jobs in the 20 wealthiest counties in the state for every one job promised to the 40 poorest counties." North Carolina is also "paying almost twice as much in incentive dollars for each job promised in the wealthiest 20 counties than in the 40 most distressed counties." (Read more) (Center graphic: Tier 1 has the 40 most distressed counties, Tier 3 the 20 wealthiest counties)

"The report raises a practical economic question as well: Are performance-based economic incentives, as well as other tax credits for job creation in more economically distressed counties, enough to convince a company to operate in rural North Carolina?" Richard Craver reports for the Winston-Salem Journal. "In most instances, the answer has proven to be no, particularly for corporations that want an urban feel or a large population from which to draw their workforce."

Michael Walden, an economics professor at North Carolina State University, told Craver that rural residents can still benefit from urban incentives in two ways: “commuting to job opportunities provided by the new firm, or taking job openings that may arise from supplier firms that may be located in non-metro counties.” (Read more)