BH
14 | Commentary
Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News
Reporter
Newspapers
Our mission is to provide our readers
with fresh and engaging information
about life in their communities.
Published by Springs Publishing LLC
6065 Roswell Road, Suite 225
Sandy Springs, GA 30328
Phone: 404-917-2200 • Fax: 404-917-2201
Brookhaven Reporter | Buckhead Reporter
Dunwoody Reporter | Sandy Springs Reporter
www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Atlanta INtown
www.AtlantaINtownPaper.com
Atlanta Senior Life
wwwAtlantaSeniorLife.com
CONTACT US
Founder & Publisher
Steve Levene
stevelevene@reporternewspapers.net
Editorial
Managing Editor
John Ruch
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
INtown Editor: Collin Kelley
Editor-at-Large
Joe Earle
Staff Writers
Dyana Bagby, Hannah Greco
Creative and Production
Creative Director
Rico Figliolini
rico@reporternewspapers.net
Graphic Designer
Quinn Bookalam
Advertising
Director of Sales Development
Amy Arno
amyarno@reporternewspapers.net
Sales Executives
Jeff Kremer, Janet Porter,
Cory Anne Charles
Office Manager
Deborah Davis
deborahdavis@reporternewspapers.net
Contributors
Robin Conte, Kevin C. Madigan, Phil Mosier,
Carol Niemi, Judith Schonbalc, Jaclyn Turner
Free Home Delivery
60,000 copies of Reporter Newspapers are mailed
monthly to homes in ZIP codes 30305,30319,30326,
30327,30328,30338, 30342 and 30350 and delivered
to more than 200 business/retail locations.
For delivery requests, please email
delivery@reporternewspapers.net
Honored as
a newspaper
of General
Excellence
© 2020 with all rights reserved
Publisher reserves the right to refuse editorial or advertising for any
reason. Publisher assumes no responsibility for information contained in
advertising. Any opinions expressed in print or online do not necessarily
represent the views of Reporter Newspapers or Springs Publishing, LLC.
Commentary: When should local governments provide tax breaks?
Elected officials and
board members are belat
edly re-thinking Atlanta’s
go-along approach to tax
breaks after public outcry
over recent mega-deals.
Giving Arthur Blank
$900 million of our hotel-
motel taxes to replace his
stadium, according to my
analysis of the city’s 2019
financial report, was ridic
ulous - which is why for
mer Mayor Kasim Reed in
sisted it ‘only’ cost $200
million.
Giving real-estate bil
lionaires $1.9 billion in tax
exemptions for a private
development in the down
town area known as “The
Gulch” was crazier - and
some of us challenged the
deal’s legal flaws, still in
court.
So, when should Invest
Atlanta or the Development
Authority of Fulton Coun
ty give tax breaks? Based
on eight years on Invest
Atlanta’s board, discussing this with
good people, I recommend the follow
ing principles.
Goals that tax breaks
potentially serve include:
growing the tax base, at
tracting jobs, housing af
fordability and sustain
ability. Breaks reduce
resources for schools and
public services or increase
residents’ taxes, so should
be treated like real money
($27 million in 2018, and
rising).
Projects should only
get breaks if they would
not happen without one.
Developers and employ
ers pitch breaks smoothly
- it’s free money for them.
So responsible boards have
to assess what the compa
ny would do without an in
centive.
Recent luxury apart
ment and trophy office
towers in Midtown Atlan
ta? They were coming re
gardless of the millions in
tax breaks they received,
to meet hot demand. Em
ployers seeking tech talent
and access to a hyper-convenient air
port are also coming regardless, though
some prizes warrant modest incentives
as insurance - think NCR’s 5,000 jobs.
For deals that likely won’t hap
pen without incentives, what price is
worth paying? Property tax breaks are
25% for 10 years. It’s better to grow the
tax base by 75% than by zero on devel
opments that have location choices,
like UPS’s Fulton Industrial hub.
For jobs wins: How much per job,
and what quality of jobs? Sadly, few
employers attracted to the city offer
mid-skill jobs for non-degreed folks,
our highest need. We’d be better off
funding skills training than over-pay
ing Norfolk Southern to relocate HQ
jobs here. Georgia’s film tax credit has
us paying some $50,000 each year for
every job. We should instead pay that to
teachers to educate our kids.
For apartment projects that offer
discounted units in exchange for a
break: Is the subsidy reasonable? Re
cent deals costing $10,000-$20,000 per
unit per year were developer welfare.
Better to give breaks or grants to pre
serve older multi-family properties.
Apartments at MARTA stations might
merit breaks for sustainability, if they
walk the talk and forego parking.
Tell your elected officials you expect
them and the boards they control to
agree incentives only in return for good
value for residents. Your voice helps!
Julian Bene
Julian Bene is a former
member of the board of di
rectors of Invest Atlan
ta, the economic develop
ment authority of the city
of Atlanta. A retired man
agement consultant, he
has a degree in econom
ics and politics from Ox
ford and an MBA from
Harvard. He comments on
local incentive topics on
Twitter at @julian_bene
Your Views on Tax Abatements
How often should the government offertax
abatements - a break on property taxes - to
large real estate projects as an incentive?
Local governments’ use of property tax abatements to
spur development of large real estate projects found lit
tle support from 51 readers who responded to an informal
Reporter online survey.
About half the 51 respondents to the survey opposed
the use of such abatements, agreeing that the private mar
ket should decide the viability of projects. Another quar
ter said abatements should be used rarely, only when a
Frequently. Redevelopment
creates new tax revenue.
Always. They are a tactic
for staying competitive.
No opinion/
Not enough
information.
project wouldn’t happen otherwise.
Ten respondents agreed that tax abatements should be used frequently or always
to boost long-term tax revenue or stay competitive with other areas.
The survey was posted on the Reporter’s social media and distributed through our
weekly email newsletter of top stories in our communities.
To participate in future surveys, subscribe to the
newsletter at ReporterNewspapers.net.
ReporterNewspapers.net
YOUR LOCAL
DAILY NEWS
ONLINE -
EVERY DAY
Rarely. Only when
the project would not
happen otherwise
Never. Let the private market decide.
