The Business Council of Alabama (BCA) announced its new four-year “Renew Alabama” plan last week, promising to continue lobbying the state legislature to keep offering payments and tax credits to select private businesses.
According to a press release from the BCA, the organization’s “number one legislative priority” for this year’s legislative session is supporting Gov. Kay Ivey’s “Game Plan,” which involves renewing economic incentives.
Last month, economists gathered for an event hosted by Troy University’s Johnson Center for Political Economy and were critical of such incentive programs.
Director of the Political Economy Research Institute Dan Smith said there was no evidence that economic incentive programs worked and that a better way to attract business to the state was to decrease the tax burden for everyone. He noted that tax collection per person in Alabama was relatively high compared to neighboring states.
Some businesses that have received economic incentives in the past have been accused of supporting left-wing causes and taking advantage of underage illegal immigrant labor.
The BCA was founded in 1985 as a voice for Alabama’s business community in the Statehouse. It was instrumental in the 2010 election of the first Republican legislature in 136 years.
Formerly led by newly-elected U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery), the BCA is now headed by Helena Duncan, a consistent Democratic primary voter and far-left U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) donor.
According to the BCA’s website, the council is pushing for the renewal of economic incentive programs like the Alabama Jobs Act (AJA) and the Growing Alabama Credit (GAC).
The AJA, passed in 2015, is set to expire in July. Renewing the AJA would continue tax credits and abatements to qualifying businesses in Alabama.
The GAC offers tax credits to individuals in Alabama who make cash contributions to “approved qualifying projects” at “economic development organizations.”
The BCA also said it supports broadband expansion and workforce development initiatives and opposes government healthcare mandates that “increases the cost of doing business and ignores the flexibility of free market principles.”
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