Call a truce to economic border wars

Seven months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry set foot on Connecticut soil for the first time to try to woo gun manufacturers to migrate to the Lone Star State. It was an audacious case of one state trying to poach from another, amplified by the scope of the tragedy. It might have seemed even more egregious had the overtures come from a state in the same region.

But just as businesses in the same neighborhood often see the benefits of mutual support, states should not have to share borders to recognize the value of mutual respect and cooperation.

We’re not pretending Connecticut is a passive victim of such indignities. The state may have been bruised by General Electric’s move to Massachusetts, but it has also has a history of offering incentives to bolster business ranks.

While former Gov. Dannel Malloy objected to Perry’s poaching, he also wrapped a package filled with $50 million in tax credits and $21 million in aid to encourage Cigna insurance to relocate its headquarters from Philadelphia to its Bloomfield campus. It was hardly an act of brotherly love.

States could do more to remember they are on the same team when it comes to improving our nation’s economy. While Amazon has small and large businesses scrambling as it redefines the marketplace, it also made fools of just about every state willing to surrender historic nicknames to become known as “Home of Amazon.”

The tail has been wagging the dog, and it’s time someone started barking.

As Hamden state Rep. Josh Elliott said, “Connecticut should not be targeting businesses in other states, and other states should not be targeting employers in Connecticut.”

So Elliott is sponsoring a bill that would essentially call a truce to border wars. The legislation calls for an interstate compact that would ban incentives specific to any company.

It’s not an original idea, as versions of it are also being considered in New York, New Hampshire, Florida, Illinois, Hawaii and West Virginia.

Elliott’s bill is based on one proposed in New York last year, “The End of Corporate Welfare Act of 2019,” which deemed the decades-old practice a “Race to the Bottom.”

“Such an interstate agreement will eliminate secretive, opaque negotiations between government officials and corporate executives, which have time and again transferred billions to corporations with little to show in return,” the New York bill reasoned.

Doing so would make New York a good neighbor to New Jersey. A New York Times report pointed to a dozen companies luring $100 million in Garden State tax credits by threatening unrealized moves across the state line.

Lamont has already reversed course from Malloy, but his economic adviser, David Lehman, seemed cautious about removing the incentive tool from the toolbox.

Connecticut lawmakers should seriously consider following this course, which is already working elsewhere. The first rule of any business should be not to give away free money.

States could do more to remember they are on the same team when it comes to improving our nation’s economy.