The unemployment rate that hit 8.5 percent in March is the latest reminder of the severity of our country's economic crisis. As economic activity dries up, governments across the nation are faced with growing budget shortfalls. Missouri is no exception.

In my book, "Competing for Capital," I estimated that state and local governments spent almost $50 billion annually on subsidies to business in 1996, a figure that was confirmed in 2002 by University of Iowa economists Peter Fisher and Alan Peters. According to a study by Susan Mason and myself last year, Missouri cities have given more than $5 billion in tax increment financing subsidies since the program's inception in 1982. At least $262 million in TIFs were approved in 2007, based on my compilation from the Missouri Department of Economic Development website and news reports.

Continued at St. Louis-Post Dispatch: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/editorialcommentary/story/7368EF92A11F26DA8625759A00608E83?OpenDocument