A committee in North Carolina’s General Assembly is preparing a bill that would make it easier for the state to keep track of all the economic incentives it has offered companies to do business in the state.

Members of the revenue laws study committee got into a heated discussion about one of the largest incentive deals in N.C. It was the nearly $300 million deal to lure Dell. The computer manufacturer claimed a small fraction of the tax credits offered to it, and it has since announced plans to close its plant. It will have operated for less than 5 years.

Defenders of the deal said the state didn’t lose anything from the deal, as the soon-to-be-vacant Forsyth County facility would be available for some other manufacturer to occupy. But critics of incentives say they’re nearly impossible to keep track of and provide taxpayer subsidies to companies that should survive on their own.

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