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Infighting hurts us all- Teradata’s decision based on income tax?

Decisions on where to locate shouldn’t be based on who has the lowest income tax rate or the best incentive package- yet, that seems to be what drove Teradata’s decision- if you read the Dayton Business Journal:

Officials: Teradata bound for Miami Twp. – Dayton Business Journal: [1]
In what is a major economic development win for the region, Teradata notified Miami Township officials in late May of its decision to locate 300 workers there, said Deborah Preston, president of the Miami Township Board of Trustees.

“We’re excited to have them,” Preston said. “We are hopeful that this is going to be a magnet for other high-tech companies to come into the township and into this region.”

Janet Brewer, an NCR spokeswoman, said that while Teradata has indicated it wants to stay local, it has yet to make an official decision.

Local government and economic development officials have said they’ve been working with Teradata since NCR’s January announcement that it would spin off that division.

NCR, Dayton’s largest company with $6.14 billion in revenue in 2006, is working on spinning off its $1.5 billion data warehousing business as a separate, publicly traded company. The process should be completed by the third quarter of this year, NCR has reported.

Miami Township was in competition with Atlanta — where Teradata has a large operation — and West Chester for the company’s headquarters, Preston said.

She said the company wanted to be located in an area like Miami Township or West Chester because it would avoid having to pay city taxes.

The company finally decided on Miami Township in part because of its close proximity to Interstate 75 and the pending development of the Austin Road Interchange, Preston said.

The Dayton Daily News tells us that either City Manager Rashad Young is a bad liar, or was totally out of the loop:

Teradata to leave Dayton, City Manager Says [2]

NCR Corp. spinoff Teradata Corp. will leave the city of Dayton, taking 250 to 300 jobs with it, Dayton City Manager Rashad Young said on Friday.

“My understanding is they have decided to locate their headquarters in Miami Township,” said Young, adding that the city was not given the chance to offer incentives it hoped would keep the company in Dayton.

He said company officials formally told him that they were moving. He said he’s not sure what drove the business decision but that city officials had thought Dayton could be competitive on space and timing issues, as well as economic incentives.

“Certainly they will stay in the region and that’s helpful to the region. But my priority is the city of Dayton, and from that perspective, I’m disappointed,” Young said.

Note the difference in tone between the two publications- one about the positive of Teradata landing in Miami Township and the other negative about leaving Dayton.

At some point- we have to start looking at our region and stop creating divisions. We live or die as a region, the circulation of money doesn’t understand the difference between Kettering and Oakwood- or Riverside and Greene County as the latest tax argument about income tax on base workers.

The sooner OHIO, adopts a more equitable and simplified tax collection and allocation system- the sooner we can be competitive GLOBALLY.

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Jeff

Excellent post, David. I am glad the company is staying in the area, (at least so far) is that usually a company will locate to where the CEO lives, and I’ve heard Terradatas CEO lives in Atlanta.

Interesting to see how Austin Road figured into the decision. That area will be the hot growth spot of the 21st century, after the interchange is built.

I know the local tax situation was a factor in me deciding to live in Washington Twp after leaving California. In my opinion Ohio’s local income tax just subsidizes local government balkanization and incentivizes this “win-lose” mentality in local politics.