Governor Rick Snyder has signed bills to create new business incentives in hopes of getting a few very large employers to locate in Michigan.
The new incentives are controversial.
The new law would benefit a handful of companies that create hundreds or thousands of average or above-average wage jobs. The deal would allow the companies to keep some or all of the state income taxes collected from their employees.
“Michigan has not had a competitive tool to attract and compete for those larger projects.”
Jennifer Nelson of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation says the state’s not been a player for deals to attract mega-employers to the state. She says Michigan’s competing with manufacturing states like Wisconsin and South Carolina.
She says this will put the state in the running for projects that will create hundreds or thousands of well-paying jobs.
“This tool now puts us on the map. And, in fact, we’ve been fielding calls in the last week or two from folks that are interested in what Michigan can offer for some of these larger projects.”
James Hohman is with the free-market Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He says the new law is a payoff for a small number of businesses.
“It is a selected tax preference that no one else is getting. If everyone got these types of deals, which they can’t because they are limited, the state would be bankrupt, or at least it wouldn’t have the 10 billion dollars from the state income tax.”
State economic development officials say Michigan was losing big deals and lots of jobs to other states because it couldn’t match their incentives.