(The Center Square) – Increases of 2.5% in Oklahoma's quality job incentive tax package and 1% in the investment tax program are being sought from state lawmakers by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
If approved by the Legislature, the increase would take the job incentive package from 5% to 7.5% and the investment tax incentive from 1% to 3%.
The Republican governor also asked for an 85% rebate Tuesday on the tax credit program. The money would come from the state's savings, Stitt said.
Stitt said Monday the state is luring a Fortune 500 company that would bring thousands of jobs. The governor, in his Monday news conference, said he could not name the company or the amount of money involved because negotiations are ongoing.
Bloomberg News reported in March that Panasonic was eying Kansas and Oklahoma for a new manufacturing facility that would make batteries for electric vehicles.
The Kansas Legislature passed a bill in February that would give a new manufacturing company more than $1 billion in incentives, according to Fox 4 News.
Stitt said other states have passed similar legislation in hopes of getting the plant to build elsewhere. He asked lawmakers to vote on the tax incentives this week.
"It's our understanding that the company needs to make a decision fairly quickly," the governor said. "Some other states have already passed some different legislation."
The House and Senate are behind the bill, Stitt said. No lawmakers were with Stitt at his news conference.
"I didn't invite any," Stitt said. "It's my job to lead. It's my job to tell Oklahoma what we need and to ask the Legislature for this. But we've had a lot of conversations, there's a lot of support in the House and the Senate. Speaker (Charles) McCall and Senate Pro Tem (Greg) Treat have been with me on some of these trips we have gone on so we've been very transparent and open from the very beginning to bring along our friends in the House and the Senate."
Not everyone agreed the process is transparent. The Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget scheduled a meeting for late Monday afternoon. No items were added to the agenda, according to House Minority Leader Emily Virgin.
"Undoubtedly they’ll be dropped right before the meeting, but that’s no way to run government," Virgin said in a Twitter post.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News