By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-913874.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Governor Granholm says critics are wrong who say Michigan relies too heavily on using tax breaks to lure targeted industries.
AUDIO:
Critics on the right and the left have called for scaling back the use of tax incentives to capture or keep jobs. But Governor Granholm says the credits awarded to companies that are making decisions to expand or relocate are a success. This month, the state awarded $41 million in incentives to companies that she says will keep or create more than 15 hundred jobs and spin off even more.
The governor says that economic activity could easily have gone somewhere else.
"Every state is competing, so we cannot lay down our arms," she says.
The governor says it would be a mistake for her successor to eliminate or scale back the use of business tax incentives. But they have become an issue in the governor's race - especially in the Republican primary.