Readers React: A business-friendly tax structure for California

To the editor: The point of this editorial is well taken: We should find out if special tax incentives do in fact pay for themselves. (“Do tax incentives really create jobs?,” Editorial, Sept. 10)

But it neglects to ask the broader question of why special incentives are given to special industries or business (such as the film industry), and why aren’t taxes lowered across the board as an incentive to draw a wide spectrum of business to the state?

What Democratic states like California and New York, which offer special incentives but have overall high taxes, fail to understand is the contradictions of their policy. While they offer tax incentives, they refuse to recognize that their high taxes themselves are the problem.

If California had a business tax structure (and you can throw regulatory structure into the mix) that was attractive to business in the first place, there would be no need for incentives, and businesses would locate, expand or stay here to begin with.

Robert Braley, Bakersfield

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion