The ‘Economic Development’ Con

Government watchdogs are fighting the good fight, begging Democrats in Albany to stop ladling out billions in taxpayer cash to favored industries for dubious “economic development.” Alas, the Dems — led by Gov. Hochul — are set to double down.

“Please. New York Democrats, freeze your misguided love affair with trickle-down economics and corporate giveaways,” Reinvent Albany’s Elizabeth Marcello pleaded Monday.

“We already spend over $10 billion in state and local funds on corporate giveaways,” fumed Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.

But Hochul, with lawmakers’ blessing, aims to hand out even more taxpayer bucks — starting with a $380 million boost in “tax credits” to film, TV and theater companies, bringing the total to $1 billion a year. She’d also shell out $455 million for a “loan” to shore up Belmont Park race track.

These handouts aren’t about jobs, but buying votes and/or rewarding friends. The state never gets back in tax revenue what it shells out to Hollywood, notes the Empire Center’s Ken Girardin; the number of jobs it claims to “create or retain” is way “overstated.”

And kiss the Belmont cash good-bye: New York horse-racing’s been declining for decades, propped up only by $200 million-plus a year from Albany. And competition for gambling dollars (casinos, online sports betting) is growing.

Pols pretend taxpayer dollars are theirs to do as they please with. That’s how the gov wound up burning $850 million in public funds last year on a new Buffalo Bills stadium.

Of course, while she’s handing out your cash, she’s reaping handsome “donations” from recipients, such as the $47,100 she got from filmmaker Steven Spielberg (after his “West Side Story” adaptation got a tax credit).

Sure, New York needs to worry about keeping companies, jobs and people here. But a real turnaround requires fixing high (and growing) taxes, onerous business mandates, underperforming schools and, above all else, spiraling crime. Bribes will never do it.