Brief take on the tax holiday

(from the Providence Journal)

Tax holidays are fine.  I like feel-good events as much as the next guy.  But the fact is that they have little long-term impact on investment, business growth and job creation.  No business owner I know will hire anything more than temporary help for that one Sales Tax Holiday.

Comparing the number of jobs in Massachusetts today to the number in 1990, one observes really no growth in jobs.  Meanwhile entire cities in Massachusetts have had over 10% unemployment for the last half a decade.

What we need instead is a different approach to business – where we lower the costs compared to their competitors elsewhere and where we make it easier to hire people.  That’s where the real action and opportunity are: reforming unemployment insurance, creating a stable and lower tax environment for all business (not raising taxes on technology while giving out handouts to favored industries), and cutting some of the dumber examples of red tape.

Given how smart this state is and how much wealth stands at the ready to invest, we should be outperforming other states on job growth.

To do that, we need to do more than a Weekend Holiday.

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