Dell’s NC Plant Closure Sparks Debate
October 11, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Business
When Dell decided to close down its Forsyth County, North Carolina plant five years after opening its doors, one that the state of North Carolina secured by offering Dell $318 million in various incentives, the debate concerning whether or not the state should have offered so much money has been reborn. While North Carolina’s then-governor Mike Easley argued that the plant would create 8,000 jobs, the plant’s closure has quickly ended those jobs.
The politicians that lobbied for the incentives package argue that Dell could have succeeded with the plant and that their opening the plant in the first place was a gamble that North Carolina needed to take. However, critics of the incentives package point to the fact that it was approved in only one legislative session and that not enough time was given to analyze the plant’s viability.
Opponents of state tax incentives to lure corporations into North Carolina have used the plant’s closure to show how costly tax incentives do not guarantee success for the state. Democratic leaders in North Carolina, however, maintain that they will continue to use tax incentives if the chance to create a significant amount of jobs for the state remains.
Dell (Image: Flickr)
