INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – An Indiana board has approved a deal directing $7 million in tax breaks and grants over the next decade for a deal brokered by President Donald Trump to keep hundreds of jobs at the Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis.
The Indiana Economic Development Board committee voted to endorse the incentive package Tuesday, nearly four months after Trump celebrated the deal at the furnace factory. The deal still needs approval from the state budget committee.
The deal requires Carrier to keep 1,069 jobs in Indianapolis including 800 production jobs and 269 at its headquarters and in research and development. State officials said Tuesday about 400 people would still be laid-off.
“Thank you all for ratifying this very important deal that our former governor and now Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of Commerce negotiated,” Gov. Eric Holcomb (R-Ind.) said.
State econoimc officials said the deal will ensure hundreds of jobs are maintained in Indianapolis.
“These edge credits that were given with taxpayer dollars, all are based per job so we’re not incentivizing anything beyond,” Jim Schellinger said, the Indiana secretary of commerce. “And I just hope at some point people should realize we should be grateful for the 800 jobs we’re keeping.”
Plant union president Chuck Jones says the deal means Indiana taxpayers are rewarding a very profitable corporation for cutting jobs.
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody issued a statement following the committee’s decision, essentially agreeing with Jones.
“…Governor Holcomb is allowing Carrier to back our state into a corner, forced to dole out incentives to keep jobs here or else,” said Zody. “Bottom line, even after the ink on this closed-door deal dries, more than 500 Hoosiers will lose their jobs. Jobs that pay on average $22/hour, above the state’s median wage.”
The incentive package still needs the approval from the state budget committee.
