North Carolina is Apple’s choice for a new data center, according to an announcement made by Gov. Bev Perdue.
The announcement came Wednesday afternoon just after Gov. Perdue signed Senate Bill 575, which modifies method by which capital-intensive businesses calculate corporate income tax liability in North Carolina.
RALEIGH, N.C. – The North Carolina House has tentatively approved changing the state’s corporate tax laws to make them more attractive to billion-dollar investments.
The House voted 81-31 Tuesday in favor of a bill changed last week to push companies to counties where unemployment is high. A final House vote is scheduled Wednesday.
While the law makes no reference to a specific business, The Associated Press reported last week that the company targeted by state business recuriters is Apple Inc., which is considering a $1 billion data center.
The tax changes would alter how corporate income taxes are calculated by giving breaks to companies with large shares of their property in North Carolina but a relatively small share of U.S. sales in the state.
Another Senate vote would be needed due to House changes.
RALEIGH, N.C. – As the NC House is set to vote Tuesday on a bill (SB 575) granting a targeted tax break for one particular large company, a new poll released by the Civitas Institute shows that nearly 9 in 10 voters in North Carolina disagree with this practice.
Voters were asked which is the better way to create jobs: give targeted tax breaks and cash incentives to a few large companies or give across-the-board tax cuts to all small and medium sized businesses. Only 7 percent of voters favored tax breaks for large companies as SB 575 would provide. 87 percent of voters favored across-the-board tax cuts for small and medium businesses.
“It is clear from these results that the General Assembly is set to take an action that is in opposition to nearly all voters in North Carolina,” said Chris Hayes, Senior Legislative Analyst at the Civitas Institute. “Voters clearly see the need for tax relief for small businesses as more of a priority than handouts to large corporations like Apple.”
North Carolina’s current corporate income tax of 6.9 percent is higher than any of its neighboring states.
“For North Carolina to be in a position to recover from this economic slowdown, tax rates need to be lowered overall,” said Hayes. “Voters have been burned too often by the promise of new jobs through large corporate handouts like RJR, Skybus and Dell. They realize that giving tax breaks to multi-billion dollar corporations while mom-and-pop small businesses suffer is the wrong thing to do.”
Full text of question:
In order to create jobs, is it better to give targeted tax breaks and cash incentives to a few large companies or give across-the-board tax cuts to all small and medium sized companies?
Tax Breaks for Large Companies – 7%
Tax Cuts for Small and Medium Companies – 87%
Not Sure – 6%
The study of 600 registered voters was conducted May 18-21, 2009 by Tel Opinion Research of Arlington, Virginia. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters we interviewed had to have voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that:
95% of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” “True Values” refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in either the 2004, 2006 or 2008 general elections or were newly registered voters since 2008.
A Cumberland County official is using apple pie recipes to confirm voter addresses, WRAL reports.
