Boeing departure presents challenge for Wichita and Kansas

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The announcement of the departure from Wichita of Boeing presents challenges for the Wichita area and the state of Kansas. The response of government officials over the next few years will need to depart from past and present practice if Wichita wants to build a dynamic and sustainable economy. With a few exceptions, our current elected officials will likely proceed with targeted economic development, and Wichita and Kansas will miss an opportunity to implement meaningful and lasting change.

Aid offered to Boeing

Boeing has been the recipient of much targeted economic development incentives over the years. From 1979 to 2007, Boeing received tax abatements through the industrial revenue bond process worth $658 million, according to a compilation provided by the City of Wichita.

In his remarks, Kansas Representative Jim Ward said “Boeing is the poster child for corporate tax incentives.” Kansas Legislative Research has compiled a list of legislative measures that benefited Boeing, which may be viewed at Kansas and Boeing. This document contains only those measures passed by the state, not by cities and counties to help Boeing.

Some of the legislation on the list really should not be included, as it benefited all companies, not just Boeing. An example is the 2006 machinery and equipment property tax exemption. The author correctly notes that Boeing often received targeted relief from this tax through the IRB process. Still, this is an example of good economic policy that affects all businesses, which is important.

Similarly, the repeal of the franchise tax — another bill on this list — benefited not only Boeing, but everyone, and should not be on this list.

An example of legislation crafted specifically for Boeing was 2003’s Economic Development and Revitalization Reinvestment Act, which became statute 74-50,136. This law awarded Boeing with $80 million, the money to be repaid by the withholding taxes of Boeing’s employees — in other words, at no cost to Boeing. This bill passed the Kansas House of Representatives by a vote of 107 to 6, with Rep. Ward voting with the majority to pass.

Now, Ward says “We will be less trusting in the future of corporate promises.”

The danger going forward

The danger we in Kansas, and specifically the Wichita area, face is the overwhelming urge of politicians to be seen doing something in response to the departure of Boeing. Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, in his statement, called for the community to “launch an aggressive campaign of job recruitment and retention.”

It is likely that we will become susceptible to large-scale government interventions in an attempt to gain new jobs. Our best course would be to take steps to make Kansas and Wichita an inviting place for all firms to do business. The instinct of politicians such as Brewer, however, is to take action, usually in the form of targeted incentives as a way to spur economic development.

We’ve seen the results of this. Not only with Boeing, but also in a report showing that Wichita has declined in economic performance compared to other areas.

These targeted economic development efforts fail for several reasons. First is the knowledge problem, in that government simply does not know which companies are worthy of public investment. This, however, does not stop governments from creating policies for the awarding of incentives. It also doesn’t stop the awarding of incentives willy-nilly without a policy, as the Wichita City Council has done for a hotel.

This “active investor” approach to economic development is what has led to Boeing escaping hundreds of millions in taxes — taxes that others have to pay. That has a harmful effect on other business, both existing and those that wish to form.

Professor Art Hall of the Center for Applied Economics at the Kansas University School of Business is critical of this approach to economic development. In his paper Embracing Dynamism: The Next Phase in Kansas Economic Development Policy, Hall quotes Alan Peters and Peter Fisher: “The most fundamental problem is that many public officials appear to believe that they can influence the course of their state and local economies through incentives and subsidies to a degree far beyond anything supported by even the most optimistic evidence. We need to begin by lowering expectations about their ability to micro-manage economic growth and making the case for a more sensible view of the role of government — providing foundations for growth through sound fiscal practices, quality public infrastructure, and good education systems — and then letting the economy take care of itself.”

In the same paper, Hall writes this regarding “benchmarking” — the bidding wars for large employers that Wichita is sure to undertake in response to the loss of Boeing: “Kansas can break out of the benchmarking race by developing a strategy built on embracing dynamism. Such a strategy, far from losing opportunity, can distinguish itself by building unique capabilities that create a different mix of value that can enhance the probability of long-term economic success through enhanced opportunity. Embracing dynamism can change how Kansas plays the game.”

In making his argument, Hall cites research on the futility of chasing large employers as an economic development strategy: “Large-employer businesses have no measurable net economic effect on local economies when properly measured. To quote from the most comprehensive study: ‘The primary finding is that the location of a large firm has no measurable net economic effect on local economies when the entire dynamic of location effects is taken into account. Thus, the siting of large firms that are the target of aggressive recruitment efforts fails to create positive private sector gains and likely does not generate significant public revenue gains either.’”

There is also substantial research that is it young firms — distinguished from small business in general — that are the engine of economic growth for the future. We can’t detect which of the young firms will blossom into major success — or even small-scale successes. The only way to nurture them is through economic policies that all companies can benefit from. Reducing tax rates is an example of such a policy. Abating taxes for specific companies through programs like IRBs is an example of precisely the wrong policy.

We need to move away from economic development based on this active investor approach. We need to advocate for policies — at Wichita City Hall, at the Sedgwick County Commission, and at the Kansas Statehouse — that lead to sustainable economic development. We need political leaders who have the wisdom to realize this, and the courage to act appropriately. Which is to say, to not act in most circumstances.

Kansas tax policy

One person reminded me of this: “The real point about Boeing’s departure that no one is discussing is the fact that the positions leaving here are going to three states: Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. Two of these states have no income tax while the third, Oklahoma, has tight limits on both state and local tax increases while reducing state income tax rates in recent years.”

While Governor Brownback and many members of the legislature want to reduce income rates in Kansas to make our state more competitive for business, there is much opposition. It has been thought that the plan would be to gradually reduce income tax rates over several years. If anything, the departure of Boeing means we should act to reduce tax rates sooner rather than later.

Those who oppose reducing taxes raise the problem of how to replace the income lost due to lower tax rates. They fear that the state will raise the sales tax, or that local governments such as cities, school districts, and counties will raise sales or property taxes.

But the answer should be: Don’t replace the missing income. Instead, spend less at the state level. That will improve the Kansas economy as more money will be left in the private sector instead of being transferred to an unproductive and wasteful government. And if the state can be successful in nurturing a competitive business and economic climate, that will bring more jobs, which will reduce the demand on the state for various social services. More jobs mean more revenue to the state in other forms besides income taxes, too.

Our challenge is this: Boeing said that costs in its San Antonio, Texas facility are 70 percent lower than in Wichita. We need to figure out why this discrepancy — if it is real — exists. We need to eliminate this differential cost of doing business in Kansas. The instinct of politicians and bureaucrats will be to offer targeted relief to the companies they believe deserve it. For those few companies, perhaps this differential can be reduced.

But this is the wrong policy. All business firms deserve relief, and by doing that we can create a dynamic Kansas economy so that we all will prosper.

Comments

4 responses to “Boeing departure presents challenge for Wichita and Kansas”

  1. BD

    First, I would first be interested in knowing if the 70% San Antonio plant savings is real and, if so, why. I doubt it, particularly when they had to go through that analysis to do the tanker contract and would have had more political push if Oklahoma or Texas had been the places the were going in the first place.

    Secondly, all I ever see in these critical articles are generalizations and broad policy statements. Put your money where your mouth is and offer specific solutions and how all this stuff you keep parroting is going to be implemented and accompany it with some real numbers and program targets specific to particular spending down to the program and item. I’ll bet you have no idea what this state needs. How much does it really cost to run a school or build a road, and which one and how are you going to pay for it?

    Third, one thing is certain, Boeing dealt us all dirty and there are a variety of ways politically that can and should be addressed, particularly at the national level.

  2. Brian.

    The headquarters for the Wichita Boeing military division is based in St. Louis and directed by the former McDonnell Douglas military division employees that have always perceived Wichita as their “step child”. Once Boeing sold their Commercial Division to Spirit, the St. Louis folks began their plan to reduce the programs that could have come to Wichita in order to eventually close the plant. Over the past 8 years, Boeing military in Wichita has been prevented by their St. Louis management to bid for new programs to be done in Wichita, consequently, as older programs ended; younger employees were transferred to other facilities and the older, higher paid, and more experience employees were left with less and less programs to work on and thus causing the inefficiencies and financial problems that required the plant closing.

  3. Ida

    The problem in Wichita is that there is NO LEADERSHIP. No leadership at the Chamber and Business Community. No leadership at the County government. A County Chairman in charge of three votes to bless the City of Wichita’s incentives to their campaign contributors. Mayor Brewer, who has lost over the past five years thousands of high paying jobs at Cessna, Beech, and now Boeing. In addition, to the lost of several huge conventions including the Bowling Congress. Finally, the Wichita Eagle, our town newspaper, who continues to support these incompetent leaders. It is not the unions, it is not the European debt crisis, nor George Bush. The enemy is us and those who we have elected to public office and to leadership positions in the business community.

  4. Cato

    Thank you BD, Brian and Ida. You guys need to run for office.

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