Continuing the theme of documenting investment incentives, I came across a $10 million tax incentive to a services firm in Provo, Utah.  It turns out that it is Qualtrics, the online survey tool used by many academics.  Our department just secured a license to use their software.

The Salt Lake City Tribune ran a story documenting the motivation and use of these incentives.  Here is a quote from the story:

With more than half of the Fortune 100 companies and 1,300 universities as customers, Qualtrics’ sales have been doubling each year for six years, Orgill said. Managing the growth has been difficult, and the company’s need for more senior management is outstripping its ability to develop enough leadership talent from among its 250 employees. The problem pushed Qualtrics to think about moving out of Utah, he said.

The question became, “Do we want to bring additional people from outside [the state], or do we want to move to a location that would be in a very established tech sector?” Orgill said. With the incentive’s help, the company now will be able to recruit managerial talent without leaving Provo, he said.

I guess this is a reasonable logic for retaining investment.  But the idea that the firm will use the incentives to lure talet away from other states seems like an odd public policy motivation and definitely economically inefficient.