The Wisconsin Senate has approved nearly $3 billion in cash payments for Foxconn Technology Group, while also giving the Taiwanese company a slightly less expedited path to the state Supreme Court for certain legal challenges related to a planned massive electronics manufacturing factory.
The Senate voted 20-13 early Tuesday evening to approve the incentives package, almost along party lines. One Republican voted against the plan and Democrat for it.
Foxconn plans to invest up to $10 billion to build a flat-screen production factory in Wisconsin that would initially employ 3,000 but the company said could grow to 13,000. The proposed subsidy — which now heads to the state Assembly for a final vote Thursday — would be the largest ever from a U.S. state to a foreign company and 10 times bigger than anything Wisconsin has extended to a private business.
The Republican-controlled Senate discounted Democratic concerns that there weren’t enough protections for taxpayers under the unprecedented incentive package. It would take 25 years for taxpayers to see a return on the investment, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
Republican Sen. Alberta Darling, co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, urged Democrats to get on board with a project she said was both a good deal for taxpayers.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Wisconsin Senate is poised to approve nearly $3 billion in cash payments for Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group to locate a flat-screen factory in the state.The incentive package up for a vote Tuesday would be the largest ever from a U.S. state to a foreign company and 10 times bigger than anything Wisconsin has extended to a private business.Foxconn would receive $2.85 billion in cash payments over 15 years if it invests $10 billion in the state and employs 13,000 people. It could also qualify for $150 million in sales tax exemptions for construction equipment.Democrats say state taxpayers are giving up too much under the agreement negotiated by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. But Walker and supporters say the project offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to the state.