In his latest New Geographer column in Forbes, Joel Kotkin describes why he recently ranked Austin as the best big city in the U.S. for jobs.
What do you think of his arguments?
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Capital Area Council of Governments
CAPCOG is a regional planning agency serving Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays, Lee, Llano, Travis, and Williamson counties in Central Texas.
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I find Mr. Kotkin's support of Texas' "low taxes and low regulation at the state level" clumsy at best. While he suggests that our state's low-tax, low-service mentality is great news for business development, he points to key public structures (funded by taxes) that make the city livable and attractive to employers: the state university, suburban school systems, and a developing transportation infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteSo, what is it going to be? Support tax-funded public structures or encourage businesses to exploit weak-willed state tax policies?
It is short-sighted to suggest that our state's low-tax mentality is responsible for Austin's regional development. In particular, our continued economic viability depends on Texan tax dollars that create more top-tier universities; develop a medical school in Central Texas; build large-scale energy infrastructure; provide health care options for the 1 in 4 Texans currently without health insurance; and build a world-class education system focused on workforce development (in neighborhoods that cost less than "$350,000 and $400,000...say, 20 minutes from downtown."
Good business doesn't have to be a race to the bottom.
Without financially supporting our public structures, Austin (let alone Texas) will not be "off the charts livable," and instead will find itself ceding economic ground to some other "deep blue, Democratic island in a red-state sea."