Florida

You may recall my post a few weeks ago on Florida's spring training tax incentives. Events discussed in yesterday's Sarasota Herald-Tribune demonstrate once again that lawmakers have no business in crediting tax breaks and credits with job creation or any sort of economic development.

Local goverment officials

used fresh renderings to sell legislators on a bill that would give tax breaks for spring training facilities in Sarasota and four other cities. The lobby worked, and Bush signed the bill late last month.

That gave the city and the Reds just a few months to come up with a complete financial plan for the stadium.

It was a daunting task, especially as city and Reds officials had expended so much energy selling their vision in Tallahassee.

"We'd been working on on the big picture for so many years," said Palmer, who made a handful of visits to the state capital this year. "And now it was on to the details."

Coming up with the rest of the money for the stadium would be incredibly difficult, just as Clearwater's Dunbar had predicted.

Isn't it sad that government officials throughout the Sunshine State spent so much time on the building of stadium that may never even happen?

When local lawmakers credit the tax incentives they approved as the reason for investment, ask two things: First, were the incentives the actual reason for the investment? Second, how did the lawmakers choose to favor a certain entity over others in the form of tax breaks?