Conducting an analysis of Georgia's economic development tax incentive program

Georgia's principal state-level economic development tan incentive program has been a set of income tax credits known as Georgia's BEST program. Short ly after taking office in January 1999, Governor Barnes requested a study o f BEST that would serve as the basis for recommending changes to it. An ext ensive review and evaluation of all aspects of BEST was conducted, includin g the effect of job tax credits on job creation. The authors found that mos t eligible firms did not participate in BEST that the job tax credit create d jobs, and that there were many problems with the structure of BEST Numero us changes were proposed that were intended to better target the tax credit s and to address development objectives beyond just job creation. Many of t he authors' recommendations were taken by the governor and effected statuto ry changes to BEST Based on lessons that were learned or reinforced, 10 rec ommendations for others involved in similar projects are presented.