Is former Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee right to say tax incentives such as those being approved by the Raimondo administration are poor public policy?

Former Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee is back in the public eye, opposing the spate of recent tax incentives that various state agencies have been granting to real estate developers as well as to companies moving or expanding in Rhode Island. Citing New York Times research indicating that education and infrastructure investments should be the focus of public expenditures, Chafee wrote the R.I. Commerce Corp. board, quoting the Times’ story, that Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s current public incentive strategy was “foolhardy, shortsighted and senseless,” according to Rhode Island Public Radio.

Chafee has gone so far as to compare Raimondo’s strategy with the state’s failed investment in 38 Studios LLC, although the credits in these programs are not paid until the jobs and investments in the Ocean State are in place. Is Chafee right to make the comparison? Is the current administration’s approach to economic development a waste of taxpayer money?

Is former Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee right to say tax incentives such as those being approved by the Raimondo administration are poor public policy?

1 COMMENT

  1. Chafee is becoming even more of a joke. He was an embarrassment to the state as a Governor and an embarrassment to the state when he laughably ran for President. If he truly loves Rhode Island he will just go away. In 4 years as Governor he cant claim one single economic accomplishment, the Senate and the House didn’t respect him enough to even pretend to entertain any of his budgets. Honestly, I am not sure this guy did anything more than sit in his office and watch cartoons for 8 hours a day and now he wants to comment on the development of land he let sit barren for 4 years? Come on, just go back to the horse farm you worked on in Canada for your first 10 years out of college and stop embarrassing Rhode Island.