Byline: John Kostrzewa

Oct. 7--Tax policy can be a powerful tool for directing private investment.

But it works to create jobs, economic development or any other goal only when it is targeted to create specific results that can be measured. Too often in Rhode Island, tax breaks or other incentives are created without any follow-up analysis of whether they are working.

That leads to bad public policy choices that Rhode Island can ill afford, especially now with taxpayers staring at annual state budget deficits for the rest of the decade.

One small, targeted tax credit recently created by the General Assembly seems to meet the test for a specific measurable tax ...