AUGUSTA – Members of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee only had to cast a glance about three miles west to see the effects of a retail-oriented tax incentive.

There, the Marketplace Mall stands aside I-95, a shopping complex built on rocky hills that will be worth $200 million and provide 2,000 jobs when finished.

“It couldn’t have been built without some kind of assistance,” said Roger Pomerleau, developer of the mall, whose project benefited from a city-backed tax increment financing district.

Pomerleau and about a half-dozen other people spoke Thursday against a bill submitted by Auburn Rep. Deborah Simpson that would eliminate TIF arrangements for retail businesses. Simpson argued that the state has precious little money for economic development, and using it in a way that gives one town a competitive advantage over another is unwise and unfair.

“The problem is we’re using economic development money to shift things around and not create something new,” said Simpson, speaking in support of her bill, L.D. 208.

She said new retailers who benefit from TIFs could have an unfair advantage over established businesses, that would not be able to compete with the new guy in town.

“If nobody can offer (retail TIFs), they’ll stop asking for it,” she said. TIFs have been used as development tools for more than 20 years in Maine. They are used by municipalities to pay for things like extending sewer, water and power lines to an undeveloped area, or to help offset a developer’s upfront construction costs that are recouped by the municipality over time.

Auburn’s Roland Miller knows them well, having spearheaded TIF statutes when he came to Maine 27 years ago. Now that city’s economic development chief, he took the dais Thursday at the taxation committee hearing room to lend his voice to those opposed to the bill.

“For us to be competitive, we have to level the playing field, otherwise they won’t come,” said Miller, noting that Auburn’s three retail-oriented TIFs have brought $17 million to the city’s tax base.

He said 15 years ago, site selectors for national retailers rarely asked about tax incentives.

“Now it’s the first thing that’s asked,” he said.

He and other opponents also cited the lack of local control the measure imposes. TIF deals are negotiated at the municipal level, then have to be approved by the state Department of Economic and Community Development. A law banning them outright removes an essential development tool, they argued. Without TIFs, municipalities are left with raising taxes to fund development.

“I think local people with good guidance can make reasonable choices at the local level,” said John Cleveland, an economic development consultant and former state legislator and mayor of Auburn. “A global fix like this will end up hurting more people than the big boxes.”

Representatives from the Maine Merchants Association and the Maine Municipal Association also spoke against the measure.

Other than Simpson, the only person to speak in favor of the bill was Ethan Strimling, the senator from Portland who is a co-sponsor. Strimling said he is opposed to TIFs in general, but especially to retail TIFs, a sector where free market forces will dictate who chooses to locate in Maine and who doesn’t.

“We should take the option off the table and tell them to stop trying to strangle us and take our revenue,” he said. “Because they’re coming here anyway.”