This essay describes and evaluates state and local business tax incentives in the United States. In 2014, states spent between $5 and $216 per capita on incentives for firms in the form of firm-specific subsidies and general tax credits, which mostly target investment, job creation, and research and development. Collectively, these incentives amounted to nearly 40% of state corporate tax revenues for the typical state, but some states' incentive spending exceeded their corporate tax revenues. States with higher per capita incentives tend to have higher state corporate tax rates. Recipients of firm-specific incentives are usually large establishments in manufacturing, technology, and high-skilled service industries, and the average discretionary subsidy is $178M for 1,500 promised jobs. Firms tend to accept subsidy deals from places that are richer, larger, and more urban than the average county, and poor places provide larger incentives and spend more per job. Comparing "winning" and runner-up locations for each deal in a bigger and more recent sample than in prior work, we find that average employment within the 3-digit industry of the deal increases by roughly 1,500 jobs. While we find some evidence of direct employment gains from attracting a firm, we do not find strong evidence that firm-specific tax incentives increase broader economic growth at the state and local level. Although these incentives are often intended to attract and retain high-spillover firms, the evidence on spillovers and productivity effects of incentives appears mixed. As subsidy-giving has become more prevalent, subsidies are no longer as closely tied to firm investment. If subsidy deals do not lead to high spillovers, justifying these incentives requires substantial equity gains, which are also unclear empirically.

中文翻译：

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评估州和地方企业的激励措施

本文介绍并评估了美国的州和地方营业税激励措施。2014年，各州人均花费5至216美元用于企业激励措施，具体形式为企业补贴和一般税收抵免，主要针对投资，创造就业机会和研究与开发。这些激励措施合起来占典型州的州公司税收收入的近40％，但有些州的激励支出超过了其公司税收收入。人均激励措施较高的州往往具有较高的州公司税率。公司特定奖励的接受者通常是制造，技术和高技能服务行业中的大型机构，对1,500个承诺工作的平均酌处补贴为1.78亿美元。企业倾向于接受比普通县更富裕，规模更大，城市更多的地方的补贴交易，而贫穷的地方则提供了更大的激励措施，并且每份工作花费更多。在比以前的工作更大，更近期的样本中比较每笔交易的“获胜”和第二名位置，我们发现交易的三位数行业内的平均就业人数增加了约1500个工作岗位。尽管我们找到了吸引公司直接带来就业机会的证据，但我们没有找到有力的证据表明，针对公司的税收优惠政策可以促进州和地方各级的更广泛的经济增长。尽管这些激励措施通常旨在吸引和留住高溢出的公司，但有关激励措施的溢出和生产率影响的证据似乎参差不齐。随着补贴的普及，补贴不再与公司投资紧密相关。如果补贴交易不会导致大量溢出，则证明这些激励措施的合理性需要大量的股权收益，从经验上也不清楚。