Taxpayers pay to make CR attractive to companies like Google

As schools lay off custodians and teachers and Iowa's state parks fall apart, we're about to grant Google, one of the worlds' richest companies, a $56 million tax break to come here. These come from different tax pots but it's still public money. Granting Google freebies may be a fool's errand.

Big companies are adept at playing one community against others to see who will give them the best deal. It sounds great, but frequently the new company demands expensive expanded services including roads, sewers, clean water, and energy.

Some people and companies stand to reap profits if Google comes here, but more residents will eventually be left holding the bag. Wealthy tech companies have so driven up the cost of living in Seattle, Silicon Valley, and suburban New Jersey that teachers, first responders, and nurses can no longer afford to live there and must commute great distances. Do we really want to duplicate these problems here?

I ask government and business interests to think long and hard before granting freebies to Google. The best course may be to encourage them to go elsewhere.

Rich Patterson

Cedar Rapids