The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ran an interesting guest column Friday, written by an economics professor at Ball State University, Cecil Bohanon. The column describes the true story behind how the Ball family moved to Muncie:
Currently, a major topic in every Indiana community is what should be done to encourage economic development. There is a great debate over the use of tax abatements and other public-sector incentives often used to lure and retain business to a community. Abatement and economic development proponents have used Muncie and the Ball family as an example to buttress the case for government-sponsored incentives for business. Their story goes like this:I recommend the whole article, particulalry the part about how Bowling Green was in the picture for a while, but lost out because "the council and the mayor were arguing about how to finance an incentive package for the Ball brothers." Posted by Marcia Oddi at May 29, 2004 06:00 PM"Tax incentives and public incentives to attract industry aren't anything new. As a matter of fact, they've been around a long time. The Ball brothers were drawn to Muncie precisely because of the incentives offered. George C. Ball ended up locating his glass plant in Muncie because he got $5,000, seven acres of land and a free gas well."
This version of the Ball story is touted to support the position that communities need these kinds of incentives, that they are necessary to economic development and that they have a long history.
Well, the Ball story is true as far as it goes. However, it is interesting to note that the incentives that the Ball family got to move from Buffalo to Muncie were not, and I repeat were not, provided by the city government of Muncie. Rather, they were provided by private individuals who gave the Balls the $5,000, the seven acres of land and the gas well. Not a dime came from tax dollars; all was from private resources.