A $60 million boondoggle created to benefit large investment firms?
Or a program that will create much-needed jobs in rural areas?
That’s the debate over a new rural jobs tax credit program that made it into the final proposed budget the General Assembly sent to Gov. John Kasich Wednesday.
“It’s horrible legislation,” said Julia Sass Rubin, a Rutgers University public policy professor who has studied such tax incentive programs for decades. “Ohio here is giving away $60 million in taxpayer dollars and writing a check to these firms. In return, all they need to do is make loans – making money both on the interest rates and tax credits.