Should Government Selectively Support Local Business?
This morning I discovered that the town I live in has a “daytime dilemma.”
Apparently, “an estimated 80 percent to 85 percent of the [Parker] population leaves by 8 a.m. each weekday, making things more difficult on local businesses, particularly restaurants that rely on a steady lunch crowd to make ends meet.”
Hmmmm… okay. So what?
Call me crazy, but I would think one of the first rules of business is: “Don’t start a business that can’t reach its customers.”
Well, I guess I must be crazy because the town government is now offering free business advice and financial assistance to attract new businesses to Parker and help struggling businesses. Check out this little bit of editorializing…
Parker’s leadership is wisely taking a three-pronged approach to boosting employment opportunities: retaining existing businesses, assisting up-and-comers and bringing in new blood. The services are free of charge.
In case you missed it, the editorializing happened when they inserted the word “wisely.” Because, really, who’s to say this approach is wise at all?
Newspapers are supposed to report news without inserting opinions about the news. But recently I’ve noticed the Parker Chronicle is nothing but the media arm of the local government.
Getting back to the issue at hand — restaurants who lack a lunch crowd — why start a restaurant in Parker if the population won’t support it? That’s the first mistake.
Mistake #2 is the Parker government providing incentives that encourage more restaurants to open in an area that won’t support many restaurants.
“But, Ryan, the Parker government is seeking to help all kinds of businesses, not just restaurants!”
Okay, well think about this…
I’m paying tax dollars to the Parker government. They are then taking those tax dollars to support certain businesses… to give them an advantage that other businesses don’t have.
So as a business owner, I could be inadvertently giving my competitor an advantage!
Example: “Mary’s Haute Clothes” pays taxes to Parker government. Parker government then provides those same tax dollars to “Jane’s Hauter Clothes” down the street.
And I’m supposed to agree that this is “wise”? What do they take me for, an idiot?
Worse still, guess who’s going to support the incumbents when it’s reelection time? Probably the same businesses that were helped with Parker tax dollars and incentives. Just a hunch.
Anyway, I like Parker for the most part… I like the quiet out here on the edge of the Colorado plains.
But Parker has the highest sales tax rate in the county. Maybe they ought to consider lowering the sales tax? That’d help business. And it wouldn’t give any one business an unfair advantage over another.
Until then, I’ll keep driving out of Parker to buy stuff… especially if it’s a purchase that’s more than a couple hundred bucks.
-Ryan M. Healy
