Many cities today offer tax abatements, low interest loans, cheap land, buildings and equipment to firms who promise to employ its population base. The practice is virtually universal and it has become necessary for municipalities to engage in 'community development programs' in order to be competitive in the world of industrial development.

There is; however, another nomenclature which applies to the concept of Community Development. It starts with extortion and ends with bribery.

City governments use the threat of confiscation and encarceration to extort enough money from its taxpayers to reimburse the city treasury for the cost of prospecting for businesses, selling public property at prices below fair market value, underwriting low interest loans and to cover the shortfalls in property taxes caused by tax abatements (while property and sales taxes are commensurately increased for the rest of us).

Beyond this extortion, we have bribery. The communities which offer the best bribes generally attract the most industries. Reduced costs and taxes go directly to the bottom line of any business which benefits from them. If it were not legal for cities to offer incentives at the expense of their taxpayers, businesses would still have to find suitable locations but they would select their sites on the basis of free market forces instead of government largesse.

Individuals who raise their families, pay their taxes and conduct themselves responsibly are, in my view, much more important to the community. Why are they not entitled to equivalent consideration from the city?

When a government rakes fifty percent of its lottery proceeds off the top and dangles the remainder before the public in hopes of appealing to the dreams of its poorest citizens, it is not only legal, it is touted as good government. When an individual takes a ten percent cut off the top of a football pool, it is a crime and he is sent to jail. When government commits extortion and bribery under the pretense of benefit to the community, it is not only legal, but it has its own department. If an individual were to do the same, he would be given free room and board by the state for an extended period of time.

The fact that all communities do it doesn't make it right, it only makes it organized crime.