Will top executives at Northrop Grumman join Congressional Country Club in Bethesda? Or Westwood Country Club in Vienna, Va.?

That's basically what's at stake in the "competition" to "win" Northrop Grumman's headquarters, which Maryland would be well advised to avoid.

Wherever the 300-job head office lands, it won't add much economic oomph. Recruiting the defense company will waste public servants' time. It probably wants tax breaks no state can afford.

And the headquarters will end up in Northern Virginia anyway. Nothing the District of Columbia or Maryland can do will change that.

Spokesman Dan McClain acknowledges that Northrop wants handouts. "We will be entertaining whatever offers the states and the district have to make," he said.Of course they will! That's why they announced the decision to move the headquarters eastward from California. The company has put a mayor and two governors on notice like they're aircraft carrier subcontractors vying for its business: Give us your very best deal or we'll walk.

The difference, of course, is that contractors can say no when the negotiation doesn't make sense. Governors and mayors can't - not without looking like losers. That's what companies count on when they fish for corporate welfare.

"We do plan to compete and compete aggressively," says Rick Abbruzzese, spokesman for Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

It's true that Northrop's headquarters will provide some very high-paying jobs. But there are already 10,000 high-paying Northrop jobs in Maryland, many at the company's radar and electronics division in Linthicum. There are 10,000 high-paying Northrop jobs in Northern Virginia and another 19,000 at Newport News Shipbuilding.

In neither state would Northrop's arrival constitute the kind of strategic thunderbolt that could change an economy's direction. Same for Washington. All three places are already too dependent on defense jobs. Chasing after 300 more at a time of enormous budget problems is not good use of political energy.

Especially when the operation wouldn't add much business tax revenue. Because of a change a few years ago in the way Maryland taxes manufacturers, a Northrop headquarters here would generate little or no corporate income tax for the state.

But doesn't that give Maryland an advantage over Virginia (at least for the next few years, while Virginia phases in a similar change)? Maybe we can win this thing.

Now pretend you are a top Northrop Grumman boss. You make millions of dollars a year. One probable reason you want to exit California is that state's personal income tax, whose top bracket of 10.55 percent is among the highest in the country.

Will you put the new home office in Maryland, where the top rate for combined state and local income tax is only a little less than California's? Or will you choose Virginia, where there is no "millionaire tax" and everybody pays 5.75 percent on income over $17,000?

Of course Northrop CEO Wes Bush and the other top bosses are looking out for the company! But can you blame them if the corporation's taxes aren't the first thing they think about when relocating?

Even after Maryland's millionaire tax disappears as it is scheduled to do at the end of this year, the difference in the state's systems can mean annual, six-figure tax savings for some of these folks if they live in Virginia instead of here. Sure, they could put the headquarters in Washington or Maryland and commute from homes in Virginia, but why bother?

It's a challenge for Maryland and other states that get much of their revenue from income taxes. High taxes can extract revenue from companies and employees who are already here; the cost of moving is usually higher than the savings of lower taxes elsewhere. But when companies are footloose or starting from scratch, high income taxes can repel employers.

The story will play itself out. Governors will abase themselves. Site-selection consultants will make big money holding a tax-break bake-off. States will offer Northrop tax deals unavailable to mortals.

But the outcome is in little doubt. Northrop executives may regret not being able to play Congressional's famous 18th hole without driving across the Potomac. But with the taxes they save by living in Virginia, they can afford a fabulous golf vacation every year and still pay for their kids' college.