Mapping Job Subsidies: Becoming Easier in More States

February 15, 2011

As those who follow Good Jobs First know, since 2000 we have issued several studies mapping the geographic distribution of company-specific economic development subsidy deals—and then analyzing them for their pro-sprawl bias.

We are proud of the methodology we pioneered in creating these studies and have freely given away our data and advice to others seeking to replicate the work. These studies were tedious: we obtained lists of subsidy deals using state Freedom of Information laws and then spent months either obtaining street addresses or cleaning up the addresses provided.

So we are glad to announce new progress: in their online disclosure websites, states are increasingly including the street addresses of economic development deals. More than $3 billion per year among 15 states is now geocodable!

To be sure, the ease with which these street addresses can be copied or downloaded varies a great deal. But the truth is: it is becoming easier than ever to map where states and cities are subsidizing the creation or retention of jobs. And once you have project sites mapped, you can juxtapose them with numerous criteria like those we have used: poverty, race, tax-base wealth, population density, whether the worksite is served by public transportation, whether jobs are being created in communities hardest hit by plant closings and mass layoffs, etc.

Here, derived from our recent study, Show Us the Subsidies , are the state economic development programs we found with street addresses online:

States, Program(s), Most Recent Cost of Program

Arizona – Enterprise Zone Income and Premium Tax Credits – $10,943,276

Colorado – Job Creation Performance Incentive Fund – $6,097,056

Connecticut – Jobs Creation Tax Credit (aka New Jobs Creation Tax Credit) – $10,000,000
Connecticut – Manufacturing Assistance Act – $20,182,448
Connecticut – Urban and Industrial Site Reinvestment Tax Credit – $89,000,000

Illinois – Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credit – $23,534,000
Illinois – Enterprise Zone Program – $112,767,000
Illinois – IDOT Economic Development Program – $4,820,496
Illinois – Large Business Development Assistance Program – $5,699,922

Indiana – Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) Tax Credits – $61,600,178
Indiana – Hoosier Business Investment Tax Credit (HBITC) – $107,011,548
Indiana – Skills Enhancement Fund (SEF) – $1,186,925
Indiana – Twenty-First Century Research and Technology Fund (21 Fund) – $16,264,300

Kentucky Business Investment (KBI) Program – $33,500,000
Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act – $21,500,000

Louisiana – Enterprise Zones – $60,564,631
Louisiana – Industrial Tax Exemption Program – $946,890,819
Louisiana – Quality Jobs Program – $43,435,275

Michigan – Brownfield Redevelopment Credits (aka Brownfield Zone Credits) – $78,200,000
Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) Tax Credits – $105,600,000
Michigan’s Advanced Battery Credits (MABC) – $300,000,000

Minnesota – Job Opportunity Building Zones (JOBZ) – $32,799,000

North Dakota – Development Fund – PACE loans and Regional Rural Revolving Loan Fund – $5,564,016

New York – Brownfield Cleanup Program – $624,000,000

Oklahoma – Quality Jobs – $60,607,522

Rhode Island – Corporate Income Tax Rate Reduction for Job Creation – $21,256,182
Rhode Island – Enterprise Zone Tax Credits – $715,187
Rhode Island – Motion Picture Production Tax Credit – $8,112,990

Texas Economic Development Act (Ch. 313) – $282,900,000

Washington – Aircraft Pre-production Expenditures B&O Tax Credit – $6,200,000

Total – $3,100,952,771

For more information on mapping job subsidies, contact Leigh McIlvaine or Tommy Cafcas .