Across Pa., lucrative Trump tax break isn't delivering for the struggling places that need it most

NEW CASTLE — The cracked glass doors of the vacant post office building reflect back the historic town center. Behind the padlocks, a dusty staircase strewn with crumbled plaster leads to an empty foyer.

Across the town center, known by locals as “the Diamond” for its shape, another former anchor of downtown is dark. Once the headquarters of utility company Penn Power, part of the cavernous ground floor now houses the city’s Christmas decorations. Wreaths of green tinsel stacked against the windows flash in the sunlight.

Bill Mitsos, 55, is the co-owner of the M&P Coney Island hot dog restaurant, which is one door down from the Penn Power building. He said he remembers when the family business, founded in 1923, attracted a crowd every day for lunch. Now, almost all of their sales come from another location in the suburbs.

“It’s one of the few places left downtown and we’ve kept it open on purpose,” Mitsos said.

A federal tax incentive program passed in 2017 by Republicans in Congress has been hailed by President Trump as a lifeline for ailing Rust Belt cities like New Castle, where residents share an all-too-familiar struggle despite the rebound of the U.S. economy.


https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/10/across-pa-lucrative-trump-tax-break-isnt-delivering-for-the-struggling-places-that-need-it-most.html


Before you pile on thinking this isn't working, the program is showing the most success in the larger cities in PA where there already are well community development programs in place which are openly encouraged/supported by their communities and business leaders. It's not really doing well in rural areas and smaller isolated old "one industry" cities the have been losing population for decades that don't have the know-how, support or willingness to lay out money to develop the expertise (prime pumping).