Tax hike hasn't sacked recruiting.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS

As 2009 came to a close, Gov. Beverly Perdue made sure North Carolinians knew presents were on the way just in time for Christmas. Governors like taking credit for recruiting jobs, and in this economy Perdue wasn't going to miss a chance to crow a little. There was plenty to caw-caw about.

In the span of a few days, the governor's office announced that four companies planned major moves to or expansions in North Carolina, plans that promised to create more than 2,000 jobs. Charlotte got the biggest package: New York-based Zenta Mortgage Services LLC said it would expand operations to create 1,002 jobs, while Swedish appliance maker AB Electrolux announced it was consolidating corporate offices from around the country into a North American headquarters that would employ at least 738. Perdue came to the Queen City to make the Electrolux announcement. "This is a big day. ... This is a big company," she said. IEM Inc., a security and emergency management consultant based in Baton Rouge, La., announced it was moving to Durham County and eventually creating 430 jobs. Waltham, Mass.-based lab-equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. pledged to add 104 jobs in Asheville.

Those companies' decisions don't seem to be falling in line with the dire forecasts after Perdue and her fellow Democrats in the General Assembly pushed through a $1 billion tax hike last summer to plug a gaping hole in the budget. "The Democratic addiction to more spending and higher taxes is a surefire strategy for more job losses and delayed recovery," predicted Phil Berger, the Republican leader in the state Senate.

Should such statements be dismissed as partisan rhetoric? Or did the companies that decided to leave such states as Georgia and Louisiana not get that memo? Will they turn into anomalies as we move further into 2010? To some extent, they already are. Each received state incentives. For Electrolux, the state grants and tax breaks eventually could add up to $25 million. Compared with most companies out there, which haven't benefited from such state largess, their effective tax rates become lower. Maybe the perks more than made up for any disincentive created by rising sales and personal-income taxes.

But other states surely dangled their own bag of goodies in front of Electrolux and IEM, even if the contents may not have been so sweet. For reasons more compelling than any incentives, Electrolux decided to move its headquarters from Augusta, Ga., and IEM...