Can You Prove That Vermont’s Main Business Incentive Creates Jobs? It’s Debatable
Logic Supply, an industrial computer company headquartered in South Burlington, was approved for its first VEGI award in 2013. Photo by Henry Epp for VPR
Among the proposals Gov. Phil Scott has made this year to expand Vermont’s workforce is adding more “enhancements” to the state’s signature business incentive program. But one top state official has long questioned a core principle of that program.
The program is called the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive (VEGI). Here’s the idea behind it: The state wants to add more jobs in Vermont, and they think they can do that by promising payments to companies who commit to expanding in the state.