Wisconsin Republicans announced revisions Friday to a state incentives package for Foxconn, including provisions that would tie tax credits to the number of living-wage jobs created and encourage the company to hire Wisconsin residents.
The Taiwanese electronics giant plans to build a 20 million-square-foot plant in southeastern Wisconsin that the company says could eventually employ up to 13,000 people. Gov. Scott Walker has introduced a bill that would lay out $3 billion in tax credits for the company, exempt the plant from a host of environmental regulations and borrow $252 million for interstate highway repairs around the plant.
Walker's fellow Republicans control both the state Senate and Assembly, but the two houses have spent the last two weeks at loggerheads over the bill. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who represents portions of Racine County where the plant could end up, has been pushing to pass the measure.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald has been more cautious, outlining a number of concerns about the plan. One of his main complaints has been that the bill doesn't lay out any deadlines for Foxconn to create jobs.
Vos released the new version of the bill on Friday afternoon. The changes tie payroll tax credits to the number of jobs Foxconn creates that pay between $30,000 and $100,000. They also call for state officials to include terms in any contract with the company that encourage hiring Wisconsin residents. Those revisions are designed to allay fears the jobs will be low-paying and could go to Illinois residents.
