Michigan lawmakers hand out more business subsidies than their counterparts in every other state

Next time Democ­rats say there’s no mon­ey for roads with­out rais­ing tax­es, remem­ber this:

Michi­gan law­mak­ers hand out more busi­ness sub­si­dies than their coun­ter­parts in every oth­er state, accord­ing to an analy­sis by the Site Selec­tion Group. For all this favoritism, how­ev­er, Michi­gan does not get bet­ter eco­nom­ic per­for­mance. Indeed, the com­pa­nies that get deals from the state rarely live up to their own expec­ta­tions.

Elect­ed offi­cials make job announce­ments when they ink deals with busi­ness­es to estab­lish their next office or fac­to­ry in Michi­gan. “Michigan’s future is bright, and I will con­tin­ue work­ing with any­one to make trans­for­ma­tion­al invest­ments in our econ­o­my, cre­ate good-pay­ing jobs, and empow­er work­ing fam­i­lies,” said Gov. Gretchen Whit­mer when hand­ing out $660 mil­lion in sub­si­dies to Gen­er­al Motors in 2022.

But com­pa­nies rarely deliv­er the jobs that are announced. A look at the major deals Michi­gan law­mak­ers made from 2000 to 2020 found that com­pa­nies cre­at­ed just 9% of the jobs that were announced. That is, one job is cre­at­ed for every 11 jobs that are pro­claimed in news sto­ries.

Read the full sto­ry at the Mack­inac Cen­ter for Pub­lic Pol­i­cy here.