Salter: When taxpayers incentivize jobs, the state should protect workers’ privacy in union votes
Salter: When taxpayers incentivize jobs, the state should protect workers’ privacy in union votes
Publish Date: 2026-05-28 11:39:00
Source Domain: www.hubcityspokes.com
Below is a political opinion column by Sid Salter:
State Sen. Josh Harkins has introduced legislation to protect the investments of state and local taxpayers in economic development projects that rely on taxpayer incentives.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced in December that the state will invest over $100 million in economic development projects—projects that have created record-breaking numbers of jobs—funded by Mississippi taxpayers.
As mentioned in a previous column, these projects include the $20 billion xAI Data Center in Southaven, the $10 billion Amazon Web Services project in Madison County, and the $10 billion Compass Data Center in Lauderdale County. Site Selection Magazine’s Alexis Elmore recently noted: “In less than two years, Mississippi has captured the three largest capital investment projects in the state’s over 200-year history.
“This wasn’t a matter of faltering on legacy industries—such as advanced manufacturing; aerospace & defense; agriculture; automotive; chemicals; distribution & logistics; energy; and forestry—but rather embracing a technology-driven economy…(t)he most enticing tool on hand when it comes to securing multi-billion-dollar investments? In Mississippi, it comes in the form of incentives,” Elmore observed.
The same was true when Mississippi competed with other Southern states for high-tech jobs in automotive manufacturing, as…
