{"id":367,"date":"2023-11-22T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayamuir.com\/?p=367"},"modified":"2023-11-24T11:39:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T11:39:46","slug":"you-know-the-names-of-colorados-biggest-corporations-heres-what-they-received-in-tax-incentives-from-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayamuir.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/22\/you-know-the-names-of-colorados-biggest-corporations-heres-what-they-received-in-tax-incentives-from-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"You know the names of Colorado\u2019s biggest corporations. Here\u2019s what they received in tax incentives from the state."},"content":{"rendered":"
DaVita, Arrow Electronics, Charter Communications, VF Corp, and Gusto are major employers in Colorado. And while they operate in very different industries, they share something in common.<\/p>\n
They either relocated to the state or boosted hiring after receiving assistance from Job Growth Incentive Tax Credit<\/a> program, which the General Assembly approved in response to the Great Recession, which cost the state 137,600 jobs in 2008 and 2009.<\/p>\n From the first award in 2009 through this summer, employers have contracted to provide up to 48,000 jobs in return for up to $788.4 million worth of state tax breaks. So far, those 169 awards have generated $242 million worth of state tax credits tied to the creation of 21,000 jobs, according to a Denver Post analysis of numbers provided by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.<\/p>\n “From the state\u2019s perspective, the direct positive fiscal impact comes from job creation, from workers paying state sales tax and state income tax,” said Jeff Kraft, director of business funding and incentives at OEDIT. In return for each job created, the state provides employers a credit against corporate income taxes tied to half of the payroll taxes generated.<\/p>\n The program has made a big difference in attracting companies more focused on hiring than making big capital investments, which the state’s once-dominant incentive, the Enterprise Zone program, emphasizes, with several of the companies recruited now fixtures in the economy. However, the businesses associated with the JGITC have mostly set up shop along the Front Range, and the influx of higher-wage workers may have exacerbated the sharp rise in housing costs, something the state is trying to remedy so it can remain competitive.<\/p>\n The first “mega” deal the JGITC helped bring to the state in 2009 was DaVita, a kidney dialysis company that relocated from El Segundo, Calif. The company has established a large presence in the Central Platte Valley<\/a>, while also drawing its share of controversy over the years<\/a>.<\/p>\n DaVita was awarded $5.3 million in state tax credits in 2009 in return for bringing 500 jobs to the state, a promise it delivered on. The company came back in 2014, winning approval for another $3 million tied to the addition of 215 jobs, of which 94 have been added and $918,000 in tax credits claimed.<\/p>\n It applied again in 2015, winning an award of $12.7 million tied to the addition of 800 jobs. The company reported adding only 438 of those jobs and has claimed $6.1 million of that award.<\/p>\n Charter Communications has been awarded and claimed more Job Growth Incentive Tax Credits than any other company, using them to support a major employment hub in metro Denver despite the state not being a major market for its Spectrum cable services.<\/p>\n The company, based in Stamford, Conn., received approval for $59.1 million in job growth incentives between October 2013 to March 2017 and has claimed $52.9 million following its creation of 2,200 jobs, which works out to $24,300 per job.<\/p>\n Companies can only claim credits based on the jobs listed on the initial application. Charter created 3,300 jobs tied to those three awards, putting the state’s payout closer to $16,030 per job. And it has continued to grow, with 5,500 employees located in the state.<\/p>\n “This powerful incentive has helped us rapidly grow two dynamic organizations at Charter in an extremely competitive tech employee marketplace: Our product and technology team, which drives innovation in broadband, video and the fastest-growing mobile service in the country, and our network operations group, which is responsible for fast, reliable and secure connectivity for more than 32 million customers across 41 states,” said Adam Falk, senior vice president of state government affairs at Charter, in an email.<\/p>\n Comcast, another cable provider, also turned to the JGITC between January 2012 and January 2016 as it expanded, receiving approval for $26.6 million in awards tied to the creation of 1,693 jobs. The company claimed $14.5 million in tax credits tied to the creation of 1,058 jobs in its first two awards, but nothing in its third in 2016, which was for a customer call center in Fort Collins.<\/p>\n “Comcast didn\u2019t collect any of the tax incentive credits for this project because it did not meet the job requirement threshold for any of those incentives,” said Leslie Oliver, a spokeswoman for the company.<\/p>\n Fidelity Investments was looking to add 400 jobs in Denver when it requested $8.1 million in incentives from the state. It added those, plus another 681 beyond that initial request.<\/p>\n “We currently have about 2,400 associates in Colorado,” said Kacey Brister, a senior manager of external communication at the Boston-based money manager.<\/p>\n