A bill introduced this week in the state House would sweeten Georgia’s economic incentives and lower the threshold of eligibility for businesses in an effort to attract and add new jobs in the state.
Gov. Nathan Deal has put job creation at the top of his agenda, and pieces of it are beginning to surface in legislation.
House Bill 868 would increase incentives for jobs created by existing firms or jobs moved to the state in many industries. It also would clarify existing state law to include companies in alternative energy, electric vehicles and biomedical manufacturing.
On Thursday, the leader of Georgia’s business recruitment efforts pressed his case to business leaders for better economic incentives.
In some ways, Georgia has fallen behind its neighbors in the arms race of economic incentives, Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said at a real estate conference held by Jones Lang LaSalle at the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead.
Georgia's assets include its Quick Start jobs training program, ports, rail and highways that other states can't match, he said, but the state has lost opportunities to neighbors with discretionary funds Georgia doesn't have.
“My job at the end of the day is to put the most aggressive offer on the table that’s also fiscally responsible for the state," Cummiskey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
HB 868 proposes, among other things, lowering the number of new employees necessary to qualify for the credits to as few as two in certain rural areas and as few as 10 in the most urbanized areas. It also would raise the amount of the credits in more developed counties.
The tax credits for new jobs in the most depressed counties will remain at $3,500 annually for five years for each new job, but the bill proposes raising credits for the jobs in more economically stable counties, typically those in urban areas, from $1,250 to at least $2,000 annually for five years.
"What we wanted to do is continue to have small counties to have tax credits so they can continue to attract jobs. But we also wanted to give more incentives to higher tier brackets,” said Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, a sponsor of the bill and one of the governor's floor leaders.
The bill also would lower the threshold for what are known as “quality jobs” credits, which are credits for jobs with pay at or above 110 percent of the average wage in the county where the job is located. Companies could be eligible with the creation of 15 new high-paying jobs instead of the current 50.
These quality jobs credits equal $2,500 for each job with wages 110 percent or more of the average wage in the county. They can escalate to $5,000 for jobs that pay 200 percent or more of the average wage of the county.
These changes would help recruit high-paying jobs to the state, Cummiskey said. If approved, the bill would be retroactive to Jan. 1.
“I think this is going to be very helpful. We see changes every day [from competing states],” said Betty McIntosh, an expert in economic incentives with Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate services firm.
Deal's long-term program to stimulate the state economy features a number of proposals, including tax breaks for businesses and deepening the Savannah harbor.
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