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Wisconsin Lawmakers Vote To Pay Foxconn $3 Billion To Get New Factory (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Wisconsin Assembly voted 59-30 on Thursday to approve a bill to give incentives worth $3 billion to Taiwan-based Foxconn so that the company would open its first U.S. plant in the state. Foxconn, best known for supplying parts of Apple's iPhones, will open the $10 billion liquid-crystal display plant in 2020, according to Reuters. The bill still has to be approved by a joint finance committee and the state Senate. Both houses of Wisconsin's legislature are controlled by Republicans, and the deal is supported by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican who negotiated the deal. The vote was largely, but not entirely, along party lines. Three Democrats joined 56 Republicans in supporting the deal. Two Republicans and 28 Democrats voted against it. Opponents said the deal wasn't a good use of taxpayer funds. The $3 billion incentives package includes about $2.85 billion in cash payments from taxpayers and tax breaks valued at about $150 million. The state is also waiving certain environmental rules.
Get that? "Cash payments". Not tax cuts. Straight up baksheesh.
We were told how GOP government in Wisconsin was going to create this great economic boom by "unleashing" the free market. Now they're just trying to prop up a Potemkin president by using corporate welfare.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Democratic opponents of the deal have pointed out that paying $3 billion to get 3,000 jobs means the state subsidy amounts to around $1 million per job.
That is just north of $66K for each of the projected 3000 jobs for the nrext 15 years. The jobs are reported to average just over $53K in salary. The full value ($3 billion) only kicks in if Foxconn eventually employs 13,000 workers, but:
Even if the plant never expands beyond 3,000 jobs, though, Foxconn will get $1.35 billion for building the plant. Assuming even the beginning stages of the deal come together, Wisconsin will be paying $500,000 worth of incentives per job.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Wisconsin is already spending other states' tax money, because it cannot keep itself afloat. Now it's going to hand that money to China.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Given they need to spend $10B in the next 3 years to build the plant, the state gets $560M in sales taxes alone from the construction and another $3-400M as the construction companies pay their workers.
Plus it's incentives, not an outright cash donation.
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Except the first linked article mentions cash payouts. Why use the words, "cash payouts" if that's not what is going on? It even separates out cash payouts and tax incentives.
I stand corrected. It took me a bit of digging, but the cash payout thing is entirely false, apparently. It's all tax incentives in one form or another..