Next door in Wisconsin lawmakers have been talking to Chinese manufacturer Foxconn about setting up a factory, using tax incentives to lure them over. Reuters reports on an analysis of the deal:
Foxconn hopes to open a $10 billion plant in 2020 at a 1,000-acre site in southeastern Wisconsin and state leaders, including Republican Governor Scott Walker, have touted the incentives as a boon because of the jobs that will be created.
Critics have attacked the plan as too expensive and potentially harmful to the environment.
Officials have said Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, will employ about 1,000 people in the second half of 2017 and employment will grow to 13,000 by 2021.
Based on estimates from the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin will not receive a return on its investment in the project until about 2042. The bureau provides fiscal analysis for the state legislature.
Walker’s spokesman Tom Evenson said in a statement that the Foxconn factory is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” that includes the large company investment and $10.5 billion in new payroll.
Wisconsin Representative Peter Barca, the state Democratic minority leader from Kenosha, said the report proves legislators need more time to examine the deal.
“The fiscal analysis released today creates new questions on the state’s cash flow and on the state’s ability to ensure a good return on the investment for taxpayers,” Barca said in a statement.
Regarding that last statement, I think that since the State isn’t expected to turn a profit, there’s some wiggle room. Given the straits manufacturing has been in, it makes a lot of sense to pursue a manufacturing plant. Whether or not this is the proper project is a topic for experts in the matter.
But what really makes me scratch my head is the statement that there won’t be return on the investment until 2042.
Guys, the product, these LCD screens, will be dead technology by then.
MAYBE, the plant will be converted to something else.
More likely, either sold off or even abandoned.
It just seems silly to project technology out that far.
