LCDA: Deals add $78 million to economy
Tax abatements cost $3.8 million
The Liberty County Development Authority audit approved Monday put a price tag on the tax abatements LCDA uses to lure industries to locate in the county.About $3.8 million.The LCDA audit says the 13 industries that pay no property taxes pump more than $78 million into the local economy through the employees’ payrolls, a “win-win.” In 2017 the authority abated $1.9 million in real property taxes. The school system would have gotten the largest amount of this: $912,000, with county government, the hospital and the authority itself losing smaller amounts.For personal property, $1.9 million was abated in 2017; the schools would have received $860,000 had these taxes been paid.The audit of the development authority’s fiscal year July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017, was the first to be subject to the federal Government Accounting Standards Board’s Statement 77 requiring disclosure of tax funds used to induce industries to locate in the jurisdictions.
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