Do state tax incentives increase economic growth? No.

Taxprof points to this paper by Kenneth Meier and Soledad Artiz on whether state tax incentives actually deliver the economic growth their advocates consistently promise.  Their answer is no:

"Contrary to expectations, business taxation shows a significant positive relationship with the growth rate of GSP, implying that lowering business taxes may actually be harmful to the overall state economy. ... 

Rather than boosting the economy as expected, in reality these policies have been associated with a decrease in the growth rate of GSP and resultantly economic decline. Likely, although these policies bring in businesses, these businesses are not generating growth. This could also stem from the fact that a decrease in taxation limits the state’s ability to provide public services: a necessary component of a strong business climate. Overall, the most conservative interpretation of these results is that decreasing business taxes will not generate an increase in GSP."

Yet I don't expect massive changes in tax policy, because as the authors state, tax incentives = economic growth is a matter of faith:

The belief that tax rates affect business decisions, which in turn influence economic growth, is virtually universal among state politicians...

Although the theoretical support for a negative relationship between business taxation and economic development seems clear, few empirical studies have documented this relationship... 

Even though a negative relationship between business taxation and economic development is theoretically expected, empirically this relationship is still unknown.

There are thirty pages of appendix in the article, but somehow I doubt the data will alter the politics.