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Don't worry, they'll do better spending your money with tax credits.

January 12, 2010

Anybody who thinks the state of Iowa has any business giving away your money to to other businesses using tax credits in the name of "economic development" needs to explain why Honey Creek Resort is such a good idea:

Iowa's $58 million government-owned Honey Creek Resort ran a deficit of almost $900,000 in its first nine months of operation, a state audit released Monday shows.

That led one lawmaker to revive his proposal to more fully outsource operations of Iowa's first "destination park," which has a lodge, cabins, golf course and indoor water park.

Excuses were made:

Advocates said, however, that it is unfair to judge the resort so soon, especially since the state encountered bad weather and budget difficulties around the time the complex opened in September 2008. And the national recession has hit tourism hard, they said.

"We have to be realistic here," said Pat Boddy, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which owns the resort. "Typically, no business operates in the black in its first few years."

Really? Most businesses that don't start turning a profit "in its first few years" don't survive those first years. They run out of money. But if you can tap the taxpayer's wallet, you can lose for a long, long time. That's why economic development credits and other corporate welfare schemes always waste your money -- there's no threat of financail failure to keep them honest. The politicians can give your money to their friends indefinitely without going into Chapter 7.