The New York Times does something useful: incentive program map

Check out the link below. It provides some useful (albeit also confusing) data on incentives given to industries in states nationwide and in New Mexico. Tops on the list are the myriad film subsidy companies (Lions Gate received $99.1 million in subsidies and is the largest single recipient) that take advantage of the film subsidies offered by the state. Also included is the JTIP program which unfortunately is under consideration for expansion during the upcoming legislative session, is not a sound way to do economic development, and is ultimately a result of an inefficient education system that does not prepare workers for the jobs available in the economy.

Of course, the Times wouldn’t be the Times if it didn’t also include tax breaks in their analysis. And, while the benefit/harm of specific tax loopholes may be debated, it is not nearly as economically-harmful as outright expenditures of tax dollars for the benefit of specific, well-connected companies.