Brian Gongol accurately describes the state of play in corporate wellfare in the form of state "economic development incentives":

Unilateral disarmament in the economic-development battlefield isn't likely to happen, since nobody wants to be the politician or public official blamed for failing to "bring jobs" to a community. But the fact of the matter is that these incentives tax some companies and people to subsidize their own competitors. It's a perverse structure that really must end.

That's exactly so. And the politicians like it that way. They get to issue a press release, cut a ribbon, and claim credit for the jobs they "created" by taking your money and giving it to somebody else.

Yet unilateral disarmement is the right answer for corpore welfare. I'll vote for any politician who declares war on economic development "incentives" with this battle cry:

Businesses aren't stupid. Taking money from your taxpayers to troll for new businesses is like taking your wife's purse into a bar to buy drinks for the girls. The girls know you'll raid their purses when you get the chance, and any pickups you do get aren't exactly going to be prizes.

Related: The Tax Update's Quick and Dirty Iowa Tax Reform Plan