Representatives of the biggest industry groups in Texas went before the state House Ways and Means Committee last week to warn about the dire consequences that lie ahead if the state’s largest corporate tax incentive program expires at the end of the year.
Amid similar warnings about losing out on business 20 years ago, state legislatures created a program called Chapter 313, allowing local school districts to grant 10-year property tax breaks in exchange for companies locating large industrial projects within their boundaries. Since then, the program has exploded in size, with critics blasting Chapter 313 for needlessly forgoing school tax revenue by handing out projects that would come to Texas anyway.
While oil and gas companies have long been top beneficiaries of Chapter 313, the state’s booming renewable energy industry has secured a growing share of the bounty in recent years, driven by a constant stream of commercial wind farm projects and a rapid expansion of solar development. Of the 400 current applications, Castillo said that more than 60 percent are for large-scale solar farms.
Craymer said a new program needs to more effectively measure the costs and benefits of these sort of big tax breaks. Currently, companies only need to show that the cost of 10-year property tax breaks are less than the overall economic benefits of the project over 25 years.
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