Wis. passes $3B for Foxconn
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Assembly approved a $3 billion tax break Thursday with bipartisan support for Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group to build a massive display panel factory in the state, a project President Donald Trump touted as a transformational win for the U.S. economy.
Foxconn announced three weeks ago it planned to invest $10 billion in Wisconsin on the first liquid crystal display panel factory located outside of Asia. The company, which employs about 1 million people in China, said it could eventually hire 13,000 workers at the Wisconsin facility.
As part of the deal, the full Wisconsin Legislature must approve the $3 billion incentive package by the end of September.
Democratic critics, who didn't have the votes to stop the incentive package or the project, argued Thursday that the proposal should be improved to add more protections for taxpayers, workers and the environment. They also said Republicans, who have a majority in the Legislature, were moving too quickly in voting for the bill less than three weeks after it was introduced.
“Usually if you rush things, FYI, it means the deal stinks,” said Democratic Rep. Gordon Hintz, an opponent of the project who noted that Foxconn has made promises to build factories elsewhere and never followed through.
But Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos argued that the project was an “American field of dreams” that will transform the state's economy and should not be passed up.
“I care about the future of our state,” Vos said. “We can continue to be naysayers. We can continue to find every fault. We can say, 'Let's not take a chance.'”
The Assembly approved the tax break bill on a bipartisan 59-30 vote, with three Democrats who are from near where the plant may locate joining 56 Republicans in support. Twenty-eight Democrats and two Republicans voted against it.
The bill now heads to the state Senate, where it must pass in the same form and be signed by Walker before taking effect.
The plant, which would build LCD panels for televisions, computers, the medical field and other uses, would be spread over a 20 million-square-foot campus. Construction would begin in 2020.
