Gov. Corbett to decide on controversial proposed tax incentive to bring Oracle to Penn State area

Governor Tom Corbett will make the final call on a controversial bill to bring software maker Oracle to the Penn State area, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Here’s what’s at stake, as the Inquirer puts it:

The bill would allow employers that hire 250 new workers to keep 95 percent of the workers’ state income taxes, money that would otherwise be sent to the state treasury.

Supporters say the program would stimulate job creation, while critics say it would unfairly penalize existing companies that are not expanding and create border wars between states.

Read the whole article here.

Read more criticism of the bill over at The Philly Post and the Philadelphia City Paper, where staff writer Dan Denvir writes: “In some sense making workers pay taxes directly to their boss is just cutting out the middleman: lavish corporate welfare in the form of taxpayer subsidies to business is the norm. States fall over each other in a rush to make themselves look the most appealing–meaning low taxes and wages alongside weak labor and environmental protection–and then sweeten the deal with specially-tailored giveaways to lure specific companies (see Corbett’s $1.6 billion tax credit to Shell oil).”