Audits Show Lax Oversight by Wisconsin Agency Counting Foxconn Jobs
August 11th, 2017From, Taiwan’s Foxconn, Assembler of iPhones, Considering Wisconsin Plant:
My guess is that the plant will be centered around robotic manufacturing and the thousands of workers thing is being thrown out there for political fodder to secure corporate welfare from the state.
And now…
Via: Reuters:
The Wisconsin agency tasked with holding Foxconn accountable for delivering up to 13,000 jobs in exchange for $1.5 billion in state payroll tax credits has a history of failing to verify job-creation claims and rewarding companies that fall short of quotas, according to state audits.
The deal to secure Foxconn’s proposed LCD screen plant announced late last month is one of the largest economic development agreements in U.S. history and counts President Donald Trump, who rode into office on promises of creating manufacturing jobs, as one of its proponents.
A May audit found the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) did not independently verify jobs numbers claimed by recipients of tax credits and posted inaccurate jobs figures online. Earlier such reports by the non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau identified similar shortcomings in 2013 and 2015.
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Some lawmakers expressed skepticism after the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislature Fiscal Bureau estimated it will take at least 25 years for the state to break even on its tax break even if Foxconn creates 13,000 jobs.
The payback period would grow longer if that many jobs do not materialize, the bureau found.
