Regarding enterprise zones The World reports that John Sweet asserts “… the major industries Coos County enjoys today (Bandon Dunes, Southport Lumber Co. and possibly Jordan Cove) wouldn’t be here without those tax breaks.” He used an unfortunate set of examples to illustrate his point because, as most of us already know and it has been well documented, tax breaks played no part in these three company’s choice to locate in Coos County.
“I don’t think any of us can say they would or wouldn’t have come without these tax incentives,” insists Sweet in an interview with the paper.
Think about that statement for a minute. Sweet admits he cannot measure, quantify or prove that incentives are beneficial and ignores all the empirical and statistical evidence that incentives are both ineffective and extremely expensive. Nevertheless, he soldiers on promoting tax giveaways the county clearly cannot afford, blindly believing the things would be “much worse” without them. He cannot prove or explain why he believes this, he just does. In essence, while the county teeters on the brink of economic failure, rather than leading Sweet is demonstrating faith-based governance and just trusting, even praying everything will turn out alright if we just acquiesce to the God’s of industry.
Meanwhile, Sweet has raised almost $29K trying to get reelected.
