Jackson Free Press

Mississippi can't seem to stop wagging the dog when it comes to creating an inviting business climate. Corporate taxes here are among the lowest in the nation. In 2004, the Tort Reform Act limited the amount a plaintiff could receive in damages when he or she is hurt by a corporation's malfeasance.

We're a "right-to-work state," which means workers aren't obligated to pay union dues even in union shops, among other things, making unions--and the collective bargaining they're good at--weak or non-existent. The Mississippi Development Authority cites these facts as evidence of the state's business-friendly bona fides on the state agency's website.

In the past few years, the Magnolia State has played the business-incentive game masterfully. But the state has reaped few benefits.

Last December, in a four-part investigative series exploring how governments subsidize businesses, The New York Times detailed the billions of dollars in tax breaks and other incentives state and local governments used as business bait. Nationwide, businesses receive about $80 billion in subsidies annually courtesy of state and municipal taxpayers. Mississippi's tab for corporate giveaways comes in at a tidy $416 million per year.

Anyone who thinks that the key to attracting suitors is to make ourselves look cheap doesn't understand the motivations of businesses. For evidence of the failure of this public-policy approach, consider that Mississippi ranked No. 46 (fifth from worst) on Forbes magazine's Best States for Businesses list published last December.

"Businesses are attracted to Mississippi's low labor costs, which are 10 percent below the national average. But the state ranks in the bottom three on both college and high school attainment," Forbes said of Mississippi.

"The economic outlook isn't great either with the sixth worst job forecast through 2016, according to Moody's Analytics, and the second lowest investment of venture capital of any state. Mississippi is the only right-to-work state in the bottom 10."

That Forbes zeroed in on Mississippi's woeful educational outcomes should serve as a clarion call for the Mississippi Legislature and the Republicans running the place, whose solution to everything involves eliminating revenue streams that fund critical state services.

Naturally, Mississippi should aggressively compete to bring new businesses into the state as well as to entice current businesses to remain and grow operations in the state. But taking money out of the treasury is a shortsighted if not foolhardy way to go about it.

Before they commit to Mississippi, businesses want to see Mississippi make real investments in public education, health care and infrastructure. As lawmakers begin to piece together the first semblances of the state budget, we encourage them to do so.