Boston landed the big prize with the relocation from CT of General Electric, but Governor Gina Raimondo said Wednesday the state is continuing talks with GE about the possibility of bringing other jobs to the Ocean State. Additional incentives include $1 million in workforce training grants; up to $5 million for an “innovation center” to help forge relationships between GE and MA research institutions and schools; and assistance to eligible employees looking to purchase homes in Boston.
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State lawmakers in June had passed a $40 billion biannual budget that increased taxes by $1.2 billion over two years despite protests from some of the state’s biggest corporations.
The $130 billion global industrial giant said it has been weighing a headquarters move for more than three years.
The maker of aircraft engines, locomotives, power turbines and household appliances will move to temporary quarters by next summer, and permanently settle about 800 workers in the Seaport district by 2018, GE said.
A cheer went up in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon when Speaker Robert DeLeo announced GE’s decision. Although Massachusetts has been derided with the nickname “Taxachusetts” in the past, the Tax Foundation last month ranked the Commonwealth overall tax conditions 25th out of 50 states, although it scored a lower 39th for corporate taxes. GE Aviation, the largest exporter in OH, has been a major beneficiary of the bank’s financing.
Tetreau expressed concern about 75 percent of the company’s 800 Fairfield employees whom the company did not specify were being relocated.
In a statement, GE’s chief executive Jeff Immelt said, “We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations”.
Update: In response to a request for comment, a GE spokesperson said over email, “GE pays taxes in MA and everywhere we do business”.
Their decision was more than a simple reaction to that tax increase, though, said Joe Brennan, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business Industrial Association. With its ease of transportation, including an worldwide airport in Logan Airport, and proximity to other GE assets, including a facility in Lynn, Boston simply made the most sense.
“General Electric’s choice to move to Boston is the result of the city’s willingness and excitement to work creatively and collaboratively to bring positive activity to our local economy and continue to grow our industries”, said Boston Mayor Martin Walsh on Wednesday. In other words, GE execs were clear that they wouldn’t stand for a tax hike, and CT just didn’t take them seriously.
“The potential impact over those 20 years would be $260 million, a little bit more than 10 times the total tax incentives that we are providing GE at this point”, Barros said.
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The move “will hurt the state of CT and Fairfield and the surrounding areas a lot more than it will hurt GE”, Sen. “They’re going to have to move out or follow GE”. “Connecticut had four chances to rectify this, and they didn’t”, Connecticut Rep. John Frey told me Thursday. While the region has spawned scores of leading-edge startups in the life sciences and technology, some of its highly successful established firms now have out-of-state or overseas owners, making their connection to MA a little less secure. “Luckily we’ve won more than we’ve lost, but this hurts”.
