economic development Archives - Page 3 of 7 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

10 Dec, 2018

Tennessee lags other states in tax credit transparency

By Deborah Fisher|2020-11-19T12:54:12-06:00December 10, 2018|Categories: economic development, Legislature|Tags: economic development, legislature, Revenue Department, tax credits|1 Comment

(Update 2-8-2020: The most recent annual report on claimed tax credits from the year ending in mid-June shows the annual carryover liability has grown to $1.3 billion. You'll find this information in the footnotes.) When it comes to transparency of state business tax credits given to companies as part of economic development programs, Tennessee lags other states in how much it reveals to the public. The amount carried over in economic development tax credits to be used by businesses against future taxes is nearly $1 billion in Tennessee. But who is receiving the credits is confidential, the state says, unlike in other states. The Department of Revenue last [...]

30 Sep, 2018

Google’s secrecy agreement with the Montgomery County IDB should be undone

By Deborah Fisher|2020-11-19T12:35:59-06:00September 30, 2018|Categories: economic development, exemptions, Legislature|Tags: economic development, Google, Jack McElroy, Montgomery County Industrial Development Board, Open Records Ad Hoc Committee, PILOTS, trade secrets|0 Comments

The Google groundbreaking via WRKN February 2018. On Dec. 22 2015, the Industrial Development Board of Montgomery County entered into a “Payment in Lieu of Tax Agreement” with Google “to induce” it to build and operate an information technology center near Clarksville. It provided that: Google, through its company Foxman LLC, would take over property (which the government had purchased with taxpayer funds) through a lease agreement; The industrial development board would issue as much as $2 billion in industrial revenue bonds to help Google finance additional facilities and equipment on the property, and; Google would be relieved from paying any taxes on the land for 20 years, [...]

13 Jul, 2018

Beacon Center CEO Justin Owen on secret tax credits

By Deborah Fisher|2018-07-13T17:09:34-05:00July 13, 2018|Categories: economic development|Tags: AllianceBernstein, Beacon Center, tax credits|0 Comments

The Beacon Center's Justin Owen describes why it's important that the value of all tax incentives, including tax credits, be disclosed when the government grants them to a private company.

11 Jul, 2018

How much is AllianceBernstein getting in incentives? Sorry, that’s redacted

By Deborah Fisher|2018-07-13T17:03:33-05:00July 11, 2018|Categories: economic development, exemptions|Tags: economic development, industrial development board, Metro Nashville|1 Comment

The Nashville Business Journal reported today that government attorneys believe it's OK to redact information in a document put before a vote of Metro Nashville's industrial development board. That members of a governing body were kept in the dark and apparently had no concern about it demonstrates just how far we've come in our local and state government culture. It's sloppy government and the citizens of Tennessee deserve better. It concerns AllianceBernstein, which is moving its global headquarters from New York to Nashville. From the Business Journal, as reported by Adam Sichko: What the state has disclosed is a $17.5 million jobs grant tied to the money manager's decision to [...]

29 Sep, 2017

Appeals court rules economic development organization subject to public records, open meetings law

By Deborah Fisher|2020-02-23T10:09:55-06:00September 29, 2017|Categories: economic development, functional equivalent, open meetings lawsuits, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Dandridge, economic development records, functional equivalent, Jefferson County, Judge Charles Susano Jr., Judge D. Michael Swiney, Judge Steven Stafford, public records lawsuit|0 Comments

In a win for a group of citizens in East Tennessee, the Court of Appeals in Knoxville ruled this week that a nonprofit economic development organization in Jefferson County is subject to the state's public records and open meetings laws. The court held in Oliver Wood et al. v. Jefferson County Economic Development Oversight Committee, Inc., that the nonprofit organization, which has received between 60 percent to 68 percent of its budget from local governments each year, is the functional equivalent of a government entity and subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act. The court also ruled that because EDOC has a significant role in making decisions and recommendations to local government [...]