Arizona Mulls Tax Credits to Attract Aerospace, Defense Firms

Tax credits urged for defense, aerospace
The Arizona Republic

Tax cuts recently enacted by the state Legislature are a good start, but they do little to immediately help aerospace and defense firms that want to move or expand in Arizona, a local economic-development official says.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council, working with some lawmakers, is pushing a bill called Invest Arizona that would allow businesses such as Honeywell and Boeing to take advantage of the same tax credits offered to renewable businesses and those in foreign-trade zones.

Barry Broome, GPEC president and CEO, said the tax cuts signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last month to lure jobs take too long to kick in for capital-intensive companies looking to make investments now.

“Because of the budget (deficit), the broad-based tax cuts don’t start occurring until about 2015, and they don’t really fully take effect until 2018, so we don’t really start moving until four of five years from now,” he said. “We’re going to be in a recession until 2014 or 2015.”

Read the full story.