It’s been a bad week for Nebraska – as well as Governor Ricketts being accused of going back on his promises of transparency, the state is also reeling from the abrupt exit of ConAgra and the loss of 1,000 jobs. Ricketts is being blamed for this too, criticized for “spending his first year as Governor vacationing the globe”. Nebraskans, who have handed ConAgra a total of $160 million in incentives and tax concessions since the company first threatened to leave in 1986, must be feeling pretty frustrated.
ConAgra has had its headquarters in Omaha since 1922, and at one point was even called Nebraska Consolidated Mills. In 1986, the company’s CEO threatened to move the headquarters to Tennessee if the state of Nebraska wouldn’t give the company tax breaks. This forced state lawmakers to sign in a package of sweeping tax incentives in 1987, which has cost them approximately $2.5 billion in subsidies to various companies since then and has now failed its original purpose – to keep ConAgra in Omaha.
The state legislature has also failed to force a payout of the tax breaks it has already given the company – leaving the state out of pocket and Nebraskans out of work. Governor Rickett is using the company’s swift exit to call for changes to the tax rates. The Governor is already under the spotlight for his travel budget, and many Nebraskans will be wondering why he is only calling for this now, after one of the city’s biggest employers has left. It looks a little like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted – taking $160 million of Omaha taxpayers money with it.
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