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Nebraska's New Business-Friendly Legislation

Nebraska's Employment and Investment Growth Act will provide companies with income tax credits, as well as sales and use tax refunds.

  [ 9/10/1997 ]  By: Ann K. Morris   Print This Article  Reprint/License This Article  E-mail This Article To A Friend  
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Valmont Industries Inc., a Valley, Neb.,-based manufacturer of mechanized irrigation systems that also manufactures poles, towers and structures for lighting, communications and utility uses, cited Nebraska's Employment and Investment Growth Act as one reason for its decision to build a new galvanizing facility in West Point.

The Act provides the company income tax credits and sales and use tax refunds. The state also helped direct federal funds, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, to the project. This money will largely be used to purchase plant machinery and equipment.

"We are excited about becoming a part of the West Point business community," said Vincent T. Corso, Valmont's vice president for operations. "The new plant will provide Valmont with much needed capacity for galvanizing our irrigation and industrial products and for expanding our custom-galvanizing business to include other manufacturers."

Business-friendly legislation
Besides the Employment and Investment Growth Act, companies looking to Nebraska can take advantage of the Employment Expansion and Investment Incentive Act, which provides credits to businesses that increase average investment by at least $75,000 and increase net employment by an average of two full-time positions during a taxable year.

In 1994, the state passed the Enterprise Zone Act, which also provides tax credits for qualifying businesses. ACI Telecentrics, Inc., a Minneapolis-based national outbound telemarketing firm, cited the Enterprise Zone program as one reason it chose to open a new telemarketing call center in Chadron.

Since 1995, Nebraska's Quality Jobs Act has authorized wage benefit credits to new employees of approved companies that add at least 500 jobs and $50 million in investment, or 250 jobs and $100 million in investment in the state. Also in 1995, the state passed the Incentive Electric Rates, which allows utility companies in the state, all of which are publicly owned, to negotiate lower rates for large business customers.

J.C. Specialty Foods, Inc. benefited from the CDBG program, which makes federal funds available to the state of Nebraska. The gourmet salad dressing manufacturer will expand in Nebraska City, where CDBG funds will go toward operational costs and new equipment.

Omaha is where the technology is
While economic growth continues throughout the state of Nebraska, it is moving at a particularly rapid pace in Omaha, where technology is burgeoning.

In July, First Data Corp. broke ground on a $40 million, 280,000 square foot technology facility. It will sit adjacent to the $70 million Institute of Information Science, Technology & Engineering, a project undertaken by the University of Nebraska and state businesses.

The dual projects represent a partnership of business, education, government and the community-at-large that is designed to provide state businesses with information technology workers, retain Nebraska's top students, increase employment opportunities, and become a worldwide telecommunications industry leader.

Also in Omaha, MCI built a $100 million, 180,000 square foot high-tech Mid-Continent
Data Center. Prairie Systems, which provides integrated voice, fax, data messaging and communications software and services, built a $3 million headquarters and 70-acre campus
in Omaha.

Omaha's role as a telecommunications and information technology base began in the 1940s, when the U.S. government built its Strategic Air Command nearby, where it would lead the country's military response in the event of a nuclear war.

Basic attractions, such as competitive real estate prices and an educated work force, lured more companies, and high-tech firms have continued to flow into Omaha.

Also, significantly, the state's industrial electric and gas rates are among the lowest in the country, and its water supply is plentiful. Nebraska sits on 80 percent of the Ogallala Aquifer, which contains more than six times the water found in Lake Erie.

Omaha's businesses benefit from the same advantages other companies throughout the state enjoy: no property tax on business inventories; no tax on intangibles; a sales tax refund for pollution control equipment; no sales or use tax on sales of ingredients used in manufacturing or processing a product intended for retail use.

The state also offers the Skilled Training Employment Program (STEP) for on-the-job training. The Department of Economic Development coordinates resources from STEP, local community colleges and local Job Services and cities.

Nebraska's economy is rapidly diversifying, with manufacturing and service employment outpacing farm employment. Stability is becoming a major advantage in the state.

Nebraska offers a number of attractive incentives. Qualifying nonretail businesses investing at least $3 million in qualified property and creating at least 30 jobs are eligible for a refund of sales and use taxes paid for the purchase of depreciable property, a 5 percent tax credit on compensation paid to new employees, and a 10 percent tax credit on investments made in depreciable property.

 

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