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THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

August 18, 2008

The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa, having given $40 million in special tax breaks to two server farms, now may get more. Of course the man in charge of taking money from you to give it to rich companies, Economic Development Director Mike Tramontina, takes the credit. But it looks like the server farm companies were looking to Iowa anyway:

Council Bluffs, Ames and Des Moines rank among the 10 lowest-cost locations nationwide for data centers, based on a report from Boyd Co. Council Bluffs is sixth-lowest nationally, with an annual cost of $12 million; Ames is eighth, at $12.1 million; and Des Moines is ninth, at $12.4 million. Costs include labor, power, and property and sales taxes, among other expenses.

So we likely paid Microsoft and Google richly - $500,000 per "job" - to do what they would have done anyway. Another triumph for economic development.

Tags: corporate welfare.economic development.iowa tax policy.