Value of the Iowa Values Fund

Earlier this month I wrote about Lennox planning to cut 250 jobs in Marshalltown even though the company has received millions of taxpayer money from the Iowa Values Fund.

Iowa Independent took a closer look at the Iowa Values Fund, asking Is There Value in the Iowa Values Fund?

Gordon said IDED can point to a few scattered success stories, but in the end the true impact of the Values Fund is murky at best.

"It diverts money from improving the things that truly matter to companies, and that hurts Iowa in the long haul," he said. "These incentives are a short-term, politically easy fix to a much bigger problem. If you ask a business, and they answer honestly, they will say these incentives make very little difference to their final decision of where to locate."