Taxpayers spend millions on NASCAR and Microsoft in Southern Virgnia

Martinsville and Southern Virginia’s economic challenges have been well documented. Yet, one of the bright spots in the region has been the semi-annual NASCAR races which help provide nearly 3,000 jobs, $170 million to the economy, and over $13 million in state and local tax revenue.

Yet an announcement earlier this year that NASCAR was looking to cut a race from its Sprint Cup series almost sent the region careening into the wall.

Fortunately, the state’s chief Job’s Officer, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, kicked it into high gear to make sure that one of Virginia’s races wasn’t on the list.

Bolling, who acted on estimates that the loss of one race could cost millions of dollars to the economy and in tax revenue, not to mention a least a thousand jobs, personally petitioned the International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and discovered that they wanted upgrades to the Martinsville facility in order to bring it up to the standards of other tracks.

The administration put together a $1.5 million proposal to the ISC in upgrades in and around the tracl in order to preserve the $375 million in revenue from the race for the next five years.

Certainly a good return on the investment. Certainly good for Martinsville and Virginia. Certainly good for the ISC in that they can save $1.5 million at the expense of Virginia taxpayers.

Then again, that’s the nature of business these days. States have to offer economic incentives to businesses to entice them to locate to their region.

In other job related news, the administration announced that it spent $2.1 million in Mecklenburg County (also in Southern Virginia) to secure a $499 million commitment from Microsoft to build a “state-of-the-art data center” and the creation of 50 jobs.

“Microsoft is a household name and securing this global project is a significant economic win for Virginia,” said Governor McDonnell. “This project represents the largest investment project in the history of Southern Virginia. It will further bolster the Commonwealth’s standing as a leader in the Information Technology sector, while creating new jobs for our citizens and spurring economic development throughout the region.”

So, all in all, to beat out other states, the commonwealth has spent $3.6 million in taxpayer dollars for a nearly $900 million economic impact and the preservation/creation of over 1000 jobs.

The new role of government. But it sure beats welfare and unemployment checks.

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