Following is the letter from Senator Rich Madaleno (D-18) to Northrop Grumman that was referenced in an article yesterday by the Post. In the letter, Madaleno asks the company to not move to Virginia based on its recent steps backward on protections for LGBTs.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Madaleno's Letter to Northrop Grumman
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2 comments:
I suspect that Northrop is looking at the large increases in income, sales, car, corporate and property taxes that the good Senator supported imposing on our gay and lesbian friends. They are probably looking at the holdup ICC toll taxes which are 4 times the Dulles toll road tolls, too. Robin Ficker
By all means, let's compete for Northrop. I think Senator Madaleno is right to break out of the box of tax incentives to try and lure businesses to Maryland and Montgomery County. We are not going to be able to out do the rest of the country on taxes, so we need to use other assets too.
But we should also all read Steve Pearlstein's column about this topic from a few weeks ago: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010704088_pf.html
Unlike other competitions of this type, such as Hilton, we are not in a fair fight here. We need to avoid getting hysterical when Northrop decides to park itself in the same state as its biggest customer.
A much smarter response will be to think about other companies that may be looking to move to the DC area that might have more reason to plant themselves on our side of the Potomac. For example, companies that deal with the civil side of aerospace and NIH or NIST contractors. Let's come up with key points we can use to convince them that we are a good place to do business. A reasonable tax package may be part of that, but quality of life for their employees is also going to have to be our biggest selling point.
-Marc
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