Zeal For Truth

On June 21, a company named Lenovo promised not to take $154,000 of taxpayer money. Earlier, Lenovo had asked Guilford County, North Carolina for an incentive package of tax breaks and grants in order to build a manufacturing plant. But Lenovo withdrew the request and will build the factory anyway.

You might not recognize the Lenovo name. It’s a Hong Kong company that builds computers. In 2005, Lenovo bought IBM’s entire PC division. Lenovo is now the world’s third- or fouth-largest computer manufacturer (depending on whose numbers you look at.) Remember those ubiquitous IBM Thinkpad laptops? They’re Lenovo Thinkpads now.

But back to the $154,000 that Lenovo turned down. The Greensboro Rhinoceros Times reports the story: Lenovo says thanks, but no thanks

The company decided to withdraw its request for incentives because it had already made up its mind to come here.

At the meeting, Bill Owens, vice president of services and support for Lenovo, announced that, even without any incentives, the company would develop a manufacturing facility in the Rock Creek area of Guilford County.

Owens told the commissioners that he and others in his company, which makes tablet computers and computer peripherals, understood that the county “needed to use that money for other purposes.” One suggestion Owens gave for the money was to rebuild Eastern Guilford High School, which burned down in November of last year.

[Emphasis mine]

Lenovo didn’t withdraw the request out of kindness or compassion. It’s a business decision. Lenovo wants to build the factory in Guilford County. A factory needs workers. Workers have children who need to attend school. If Lenovo doesn’t make sure that the Guilford County schools are functional, attracting top-notch employees will be difficult. I can imagine the conversation.

Lenovo: We’re opening a new facility in Guilford County. We’d like you to transfer the the new factory.
Employee: That’s great. I’d love to.
Lenovo: Good. You don’t have any children do you? Because the public school burned down.
Employee: Uh…
Lenovo: No, it’s fine. They’re doubling up with another school to share a campus. Your kids can take classes at night.
Employee: I’ll just get a job at HP.

Clearly that won’t work. Lenovo would love to soak Guilford County for every last penny of taxpayer money, but the county needs the money for schools, and Lenovo needs the schools.

So here’s the moral: the only way to prevent a company from taking taxpayer money is to burn down the public school.