3 states offer big tax breaks for Shell Oil plant

[Judi Lynn]

Feb 1, 5:22 PM EST
3 states offer big tax breaks for Shell Oil plant
By KEVIN BEGOS
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are trying to top each other with the sweetest package of tax breaks for Shell Oil Co., which plans to build a huge new petrochemical refinery in the region.

But some are questioning why there's been so little public discussion over exactly what's being offered, and how the deals would impact communities and the region.

"Who's going to be paying for the roads?" asked Robert P. Strauss, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. "You have to think through very carefully what the additional costs will be."

~snip~

Strauss, who worked on tax policy at the U.S. Treasury and on Congressional committees before he began teaching in the 1970s, said there's a history of politicians and the media exaggerating the long-term benefits that may come from a large industrial plant.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAS_DRILLING_TAX_BREAKS?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[xchrom]

1. so every body else has to pick up the tab for what they don't pay.

thanks for nothin.

[AnOhioan]

2. And the line-up of states desperate enough to offer a crapload of corporate bribes continues.

[nanabugg]

3. They should be made to pay for public school taxes. All those areas need help with schools.

And they need to be training kids to work in and build industries that will make having a Shell oil plant in their area a bad economic idea.