Boeing says it saved $305M through state tax breaks in 2015

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

OLYMPIA — The Boeing Co. slashed its 2015 state tax bill by $305 million thanks to nearly no-strings-attached tax breaks rushed through a Legislature worried the big company would stop making big jets here.

This revelation — the first of its kind of the company — likely will reignite debate on whether Washington taxpayers gave up more than they are getting from the biggest state tax break for corporations in U.S. history.

Boeing saved big because it spent big — an estimated $13 billion in the state last year. Most of that spending was salaries and wages, purchases from local suppliers and capital investments for the new 737 MAX and 777X airplane programs, the company said in a news release Friday.

Supporters say the tax breaks, first approved in 2003, helped Boeing boost Washington’s economy, benefiting the state overall. Critics say Boeing reaped rewards while moving jobs out of state and that Olympia could better serve business — and citizens — by rebuilding roads and bridges, and investing in classrooms, rather than slashing corporate tax rates.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160429/NEWS01/160428942

[RepubliCON-Watch]

1. Thanks to the revisions to export-import banking...

Boeing will be doing a whole lot of saving for years to come.

[Phlem]

2. We're to make up for that.

Everybody say Yeay!

[eridani]

3. What Washington got for Boeing’s $305 million tax break

http://www.eoionline.org/blog/what-wa-got-for-boeings-305-million-tax-break/

If they can position work outside of Washington, they will. They have no commitment to our state. That ended when McDonnell Douglas took over Boeing twenty years ago. No longer was Boeing a northwest company with social commitments and production facilities dedicated to Washington state. Instead, it could be a rogue multinational company, and use Washington’s workers and intellectual capital to seed other production in other states and countries.

You might note that other states are giving Boeing tax exemptions as well. South Carolina, for example, gave Boeing $120 million in 2013 to offset Boeing’s expansion costs there. The South Carolina deal was dependent on the creation of 2,000 jobs. The $305 million Boeing saved in 2015 in our state was part of a $8.7 billion 16-year tax exemption deal. And in contrast to South Carolina, the Washington state deal appears to be dependent on job destruction!

How does this $305 million compared to the cost overruns of the 787? Those overruns amounted to $25 billion, or 84 times Boeing’s 2015 tax break. They were the result of Boeing shifting 787 production to other states and other countries. But the workers and managers in those places couldn’t meet the exact specifications needed to create and fly the 787. So production and repair was shipped back to Washington state, where highly trained and skilled workers put the pieces back together again. What was Boeing’s next move? Accelerate production in South Carolina, having the Puget Sound workforce train the South Carolina workforce to build the 787 correctly, and on time. This means that Boeing will slowly drain jobs out of our state, while also receiving a multi-billion dollar tax break over the next eight years.