Sponsors say a plan to let growing businesses capture payroll taxes would increase prosperity at a time when Michigan incomes are falling and some economists sound dire warning about the state’s future.
As it shifts to electric vehicles, the state’s auto industry faces threats from global competition, shifting political winds and changing subsidies, experts said Wednesday.
Henry Ford Health, Michigan State University and the Detroit Pistons are seeking $273 million in tax incentives largely to finance housing for the New Center development.
As mega-subsidies through Michigan’s SOAR Fund lose luster with both parties, Democrats propose adding more corporate accountability, oversight and community benefits to incentive deals.
Awarding taxpayer subsidies is ineffective at creating jobs, unfair to businesses that don’t get them and expensive to governments. Worse still, those receiving them need not demonstrate subsidy programs actually work.
The Michigan Strategic Fund’s 9-1 vote came after more than two hours of public comment on the proposal and several other agenda items before the board.
The state is offering the automaker over $1 billion in funding as Ford plans a $3.5 billion investment in an electric vehicle battery factory about 20 miles east of Battle Creek.
District Detroit is seeking $800 million worth of public subsidies. Billionaires like Ilitch Holdings and Stephan Ross shouldn’t be receiving corporate welfare tax abatements from one of the most impoverished U.S. cities.
Gotion Inc. plans to break ground this summer, but questions persist about its corporate ties to the Chinese Communist Party and whether the deal presents U.S. security risks. Gotion announced plans last year to build a $2.36 billion factory in Michigan.
Automakers are racing to increase EV production, and Michigan is trying to get a big piece of it. Here is where the state — and the industry — stand today.
Ford Motor Co. fleshed out details on Monday of a battery plant it will build with a Chinese partner on farmland near Marshall. The plant, to employ 2,500, is scheduled to open in 2026.
The multi-billion-dollar project with Chinese battery giant CATL is touted to produce 2,500 jobs and add to Michigan’s growing share of EV-related development. Virginia had previously rejected the project because of its ties to China.
We don’t need to be making big speculative bets on a specific company or technology to improve the state’s economy and the quality of life of the people who live and work here.
As the state does its part, one better way to reduce government spending would be to turn to Ford, General Motors and Fiat-Chrysler, recipients of public taxpayer dollars.