SteelFab Inc. has announced plans to invest $19 million and create 38 new jobs in Cumberland County, expanding the steel fabrication company’s operations in Fayetteville. This project will be partially funded by a performance-based grant of $125,000 from the One North Carolina Fund.
The OneNC Fund provides taxpayer money to local governments for economic development. Companies do not receive money up front and must meet hiring and investment targets to receive payments. Local governments are required to match OneNC grants, and awards are contingent upon that match.
“SteelFab takes in nearly $400 million a year in revenue, by some industry estimates,” Brian Balfour, VP of research at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “The state handing it $125,000 of taxpayer money makes virtually no noticeable difference in their bottom line. Such giveaways are pure political gamesmanship, so government bureaucrats and the governor can issue a press release for promising jobs that may or may not materialize, taking credit for an investment most likely to occur anyway. The state should end this practice of taxpayer handouts to politically selected corporations and instead focus on reducing taxes across the board for businesses, and allow them to compete for consumer dollars rather than lobby for taxpayer dollars.”…