@NCCapitol

Lawmakers OK richer incentives as NJ company plans HQ move to Charlotte

A New Jersey company is expected to announce Friday that it will move its headquarters to Charlotte, bringing about 750 high-paying executive jobs, state lawmakers said Thursday.

Posted Updated

By
Matthew Burns
, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — A New Jersey company is expected to announce Friday that it will move its headquarters to Charlotte, bringing about 750 high-paying executive jobs, state lawmakers said Thursday.
With that in mind, the House voted 78-23 to approve legislation to sweeten the incentives North Carolina offers to attract businesses to the state. The bill cleared the Senate on Wednesday and now head to Gov. Roy Cooper, whose administration asked for the changes.

Senate Bill 820 would more than double the cap on annual awards to businesses through the Job Development Investment Grant program, from a maximum of $6,500 per job to $16,000 per job. JDIG grants rebate part of the state withholding taxes from new jobs to relocating or expanding companies that meet specific hiring and investment targets each year.

Rep. Bill Brawley, R-Mecklenburg, said the change wouldn't drain money from the state budget because the maximum amount awarded each year through the JDIG program remains capped at $35 million. The majority of that amount, $20 million, is earmarked for companies moving to Wake and Mecklenburg counties.

Senate sponsors of the bill said the $6,500 cap was put in place in 2002 and was geared toward top salaries of $150,000 or so a year. But the cap needed to be adjusted now, especially with the state vying for headquarters where executives will be paid $300,000 to $400,000 a year.

The unidentified New Jersey company will be paying an average salary of $348,000 for the jobs it's bringing to North Carolina, said Rep. Jonathan Jordan, R-Ashe. But multimillion-dollar salaries for top executives skew that average, and the median salary is actually $85,000.

Jordan and other conservatives blasted the proposal, calling it "corporate welfare" and "crony capitalism" that benefits major corporations at the expense of taxpayers and small businesses.

"If you vote for this bill, you are against the 99 percent of small businesses who get nothing from it," Jordan said.

Rep. Larry Pittman, R-Cabarrus, said the tax money being given back to the companies could be put instead toward public schools or the State Highway Patrol.

"We're giving [money] to people who don't need it," Pittman said.

But Democrats and Republicans alike pointed to the fact that the new jobs would bring more tax revenue to North Carolina as people bought homes, shopped and spent their entertainment dollars in the state instead of elsewhere.

"If the company never comes, those revenues are never seen by the state of North Carolina," said Rep. Scott Stone, R-Mecklenburg.

"North Carolina citizens will benefit from this. Our tax base will grow," said Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.