State governments in the United States grant billions of dollars' worth of tax incentives each year to encourage companies to build plants or create jobs, but a recent study suggests policy makers are failing to assess the effectiveness of those tax breaks.

The report released last week by the Pew Center on the States says just 13 states are doing a good job of evaluating their incentives. Twelve states are doing a "mixed" job, Pew says, while the remaining 25, along with the District of Columbia, meet none of the criteria set out in its study.

Pew sees shortcomings even among the states it views as leading-edge, though. "We found that no state ensures that its policy makers have the evidence they need to determine whether incentives are effective," says Jeff Chapman, a senior researcher at Pew.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Thought leadership on regulatory changes, economic trends, corporate success stories, and tactical solutions for treasurers, CFOs, risk managers, controllers, and other finance professionals
  • Informative weekly newsletter featuring news, analysis, real-world case studies, and other critical content
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Susan Kelly

Susan Kelly is a business journalist who has written for Treasury & Risk, FierceCFO, Global Finance, Financial Week, Bridge News and The Bond Buyer.