Iowa's handout to Apple illustrates the folly of corporate welfare deals

Dumb question: how do these deals not violate the Equal Protection Clause?

Other businesses in Waukee obviously aren't privy to the same state tax credits from Iowa and the same tax abatement from the city of Waukee. Doesn't that mean that the tax code is effectively discriminating against all these non-Apple businesses?

Specifically this claim: "There is virtually no association between economic development incentives and any measure of economic performance."

The article states that the 1.3 billion dollar data center will get $39 million tax break up front on hardware, and another $190 million abatement over 20 years from the city. They will invest at a minimum $20 million into Waukee, a city of 20k people, and expect 50 permanent employees + ancillary services.

Waukee will see a construction boom, higher employment, and more tax revenue. The state will see a reduction in the data center decline + additional tax revenue.

Unless they were sure Apple had no other option but Iowa for this project, the state and community were better off making a deal than not.

The 50 jobs at the data center will attract a McDonalds across the street and then Waukee can hit those McGuys with a Burger Tax.

Let's see. $208M at 5 cents per burger is only, uh, ...

Well, the company slogan is "Billions and Billions Served."

Iowa isn't "giving money." It does not have the additional revenue before Apple arrives, thus, it can't give anyone those revenues. All it can do is tell Apple you have to give us, Iowa, less than the state next door... now whether this is a good economic plan I disagree. I'd rather have a thousand small businesses be guaranteed no regulatory or other fees for the first five years than a corporate overlord be granted no requirement to pass on the enormous amount of wealth they extract from the land and environment but that's another discussion...

If it creates 10,000 local jobs, those 10,000 jobs are still going to get taxed. So the locale is going to get money, just not from the corporate tax.

So it's not a great deal but it's not a horrible deal. I'd prefer nobody made them but once on place does they all have to in order to compete. But if they built overseas they'd get no corporate tax either... so some slice of the pie is better than none.