State and local governments in Louisiana have offered an estimated $1.5 billion in incentives to persuade Formosa Petrochemical Corp. to locate a $9.4 billion plastics complex along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says.
The package includes about $1.4 billion in local property tax exemptions for the Formosa Petrochemicals Corp. subsidiary that would build and run the plant, Pierson tells The Associated Press.
Louisiana’s Board of Commerce and Industry and Gov. John Bel Edwards must sign off on the tax breaks, which would fully exempt the plastics complex from local property taxes for a decade.
An analysis made for Formosa subsidiary FG LA LLC by economist Jim Richardson estimates that the project will generate $675 million in new state and local taxes through 2035. His report estimates that, including ripple effect jobs, the plant will also bring $4.7 billion in new personal earnings and $18.5 billion in business spending statewide during the same period. The complex’s payroll is expected to reach $121 million by 2030, according to Richardson.
Aside from the industrial tax exemption program, other estimated incentives add up to about $146 million: $125 million over 10 years in rebates for well-paid jobs; $12 million in a performance-based grant and $9 million for a state job training and recruitment program.
