New Hampshire lawmakers are expected to vote tomorrow on a bill that's touted to spur economic growth.
Proponents want to give businesses a Research & Development tax credit.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.
The idea of the Research & Development tax credit has strong backing at the Statehouse.
Governor John Lynch threw his political weight behind the credit when he was inaugurated for his second term several months ago.
Innovation spurs economic growth and creates opportunities for all of our people. Creating a research and development tax credit will nurture creativity and attract…emerging industries to nh. ….
Proponents of the measure say enacting the credit will bring new jobs to the state.
Professor Ross Gittell at UNH authored a study on the R&D credit.
He says only 70 jobs would be created, but they would be good ones.
The r&d and high technology jobs tend to pay very well as far as individuals. It’s about twice the private sector wage, or close to 70 thousand dollars a year but then there’s other types of employment that are created in a whole range of industries in different salary levels.
The measure before the House offers an individual business no more than 50,000 dollars in credits.
And the state’s total credit outlay in any one year would be capped at one million dollars.
Despite the credit’s modest size, the state’s Business and Industry Association has worked long and hard to get it.
David Juvet of the BIA says that’s because he believes there are firms that could benefit from even a small credit.
For those new companies or start up companies that are only business enterprise tax payers up to a 50,000 dollar credit is a lot of money for the relatively small tax that they’re paying. So we think….that the bill being discussed is especially good for small companies or start up companies.
New Hampshire is just one of ten states in the country that doesn’t offer businesses an R&D tax credit.
And it’s the only state in New England not to offer one.
Representative Dennis Vachon, a Democrat from Rochester says proponents of the r& d credit often mention these facts as reasons that New Hampshire should establish the credit.
But Vachon argues those arguments and others fall short in New Hampshire.
What they haven’t done, is they haven’t made the case for why given the tax structure that we have, given the infrastructure that we have, given the labor force that we have, given the needs we have for our local industry…that the business tax credit is something we need to pursue.
While there is some opposition to the credit, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has signed on to sponsor it.
The State Senate also passed it in April.
Should the House passes the measure, the Governor may soon have a chance to sign it into law.
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