Offering large companies tax breaks to move to your...

[Gryphon Rider]

...city/county/state/province, etc.

Or building arenas/stadiums with taxpayer's money to attract professional sports franchises, especially if rent collected for the facility won't pay its "mortgage".

I think the whole idea of giving individual companies special deals is bad for our society in general, pandering to short-term gain at the expense of the taxpayers and of the hundreds/thousands of companies who have to pay higher taxes to fund the government services that the large companies (or sports franchises) aren't paying for.  I think a district will attract more business if their tax structure is less cumbersome and less expensive for all businesses.  When you offer a company a subsidy or a tax break, that will only lock them in until the deal expires, when they start negotiating with other locations or simply close the local part of their large operation, leaving hundreds/thousands of unemployed workers with mortgages on houses that have plummeted in value.  We, as citizens, are all supposed to be equal under the law; the same concept should apply to corporations.

I am not saying that relationships between government and corporations should be the same as those within the church, but this whole situation reminds me of this passage from the Bible (James 2:1-9, ESV):

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

[G-Man]

I don't think there should be ANY corporate taxes to begin with.  Corporations/businesses don't pay taxes.  They collect them from the people who buy their goods and services.

[¿spoom]

I've always hated the pay for play system of luring business to one's area. I'd rather see it illegal than state sanctioned, because in the long run, companies just play musical chairs after the intitial deal runs out (think: Puerto Rico)

[¿spoom]

I don't think there should be ANY corporate taxes to begin with.  Corporations/businesses don't pay taxes.  They collect them from the people who buy their goods and services.

100%  I'd also like to see a flat income tax and no difference in forms of income. Warren Buffet comes to mind-crocodile tears over how much less rich people get away with paying by % than the middle class while he pays himself a $100k salary and the rest all in lower tax rate dividends and holdings.

[The emperor has no clothes]

GR, I'm with you. I think it is short sighted. Government has never been good at picking winners and losers. It should be a level playing field for everybody.

 As to there being no taxes on corporations or businesses, that fine, but the tax money will have to be made up somewhere. Extra income, sales, or property taxes.

[Gryphon Rider]

I don't think there should be ANY corporate taxes to begin with.  Corporations/businesses don't pay taxes.  They collect them from the people who buy their goods and services.

I don't know about elsewhere, particularly outside Canada, but here municipalities get the bulk of their income from property taxes, paid by both homeowners and commercial/industrial property owners.  That is the tax that usually used as a negotiating point when luring business from outside the municipality.

[Valker]

I don't think there should be ANY corporate taxes to begin with.  Corporations/businesses don't pay taxes.  They collect them from the people who buy their goods and services.

...with money that has ALREADY been taxed.

[phideux]

GR, I'm with you. I think it is short sighted. Government has never been good at picking winners and losers. It should be a level playing field for everybody.

 As to there being no taxes on corporations or businesses, that fine, but the tax money will have to be made up somewhere. Extra income, sales, or property taxes.

Like G-Man said, when you tax a corporation or business, they don't pay it, they just pass it along to the consumer. Stop taxing the companies, the prices of their goods and services should come down.
No income tax, no tax returns, no property tax, no IRS. Just a flat consumption tax. Everyone pays.

[Robert]

I agree with your basic premise but disagree with your bible pick.