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Last week, we learned Fiat Chrysler would seek $160 million in tax incentives for its investment in two Detroit assembly plants. (Interesting order of operations, given that all of the land for the deal has not yet been assembled.) This week, that ask became official with a request submitted to Detroit City Council.
Crain's Detroit Business reports the automaker plans to pull from a bevvy of pots, via the Industrial Property Tax Abatement, the Good Jobs for Michigan program, a State Essential Services Assessment Exemption, and a Michigan Business Development Program grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The industrial abatement would provide relief from about $13 million in city taxes, Metro Times reported last week.
More interesting than that list of government financing mechanisms, however, is Crain's look at how FCA's ask stacks up against Ford's:
If approved by state economic development officials, the tax incentives would amount to 6.4 percent of the automaker's total investment at the two east side Detroit plants.
By comparison, Ford Motor Co. received $239 million in tax incentives over 30 years for its planned $740 million autonomous vehicle campus in Corktown, anchored by the long-vacant Michigan Central Station train depot. If that ambitious project comes to fruition, Ford's incentives will amount to 32.3 percent of its investment.
More interesting still is how neither state nor city financing entities have provisions in place to recoup taxpayer money should those investment promises not be kept. See: The Ilitches' District Detroit.
