Mike Gorrell’s report in the Nov. 10 Tribune on Snapchat’s plan to develop a facility in Utah was a real eye-opener for not only me, but apparently for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development as well. According to the article, Snapchat plans to hire 50 new employees at this facility which would generate a whopping $334 million in wages over the 15-year agreement period.
If I’m doing the math correctly — my calculator won’t accept a 9-digit number — that works out to each of the 50 employees earning $445,333 per year. I have always thought that most, if not all, of these “new business” justifications for tax incentives were inflated, but this is ridiculous.
I can only conclude that the GOED board does nothing more than rubber-stamp the handouts at the expense of us taxpayers.
Paul J. Beyer, Sandy