Economic Incentives
Alston & Bird provides comprehensive counseling to manufacturers, developers and other businesses seeking federal, state and local grants, tax reductions and other economic incentives in connection with proposed relocations, expansions or other capital investments. We assist our clients by combining the strength of experienced professionals to provide the required combination of public finance, tax, real estate and land use and regulation legal services.
EXPERIENCE
Our attorneys are experienced in negotiating economic incentives packages with state and local governments and have a vast array of experience, particularly in the southeastern states. Because of our extensive involvement, we often know details about incentives previously offered to other businesses, what incentives competing local governments have offered and how to structure incentives transactions to maximize the benefits to our clients.
NEGOTIATED AND STATUTORY INCENTIVES
Generally, incentives fall within one of two categories: negotiated or statutory. Negotiated incentives include state grants, property tax reductions, utility extensions and connection fee waivers, road construction, site development and, in certain cases, tax-exempt bond financings. The statutory side involves jobs or hiring tax credits, capital investment tax credits, job training and retraining tax credits, sales and use tax exemptions, research and development tax credits and “freeport” inventory property tax exemptions.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
The public finance attorneys take the lead role in obtaining the often more difficult negotiated incentives from local governments. We are familiar with the state and local laws and procedures affecting the participation of local governmental bodies in economic development transactions, including open records and open meetings laws, filing and reporting requirements and other similar regulations applicable to governmental bodies. Our incentives team also includes state and local tax attorneys who have counseled many clients on how to qualify for the state tax credits and state tax exemptions offered in connection with their projects. We have worked extensively with representatives of various state revenue departments and other state and local officials involved in interpreting statutory credits and exemptions and are familiar with the written, and sometimes unwritten, administrative policies that determine whether or not such credits and exemptions can be obtained.
WHY ALSTON & BIRD?
We are at the forefront in assisting clients in utilizing the benefits of property tax and other economic incentives and advising them of the most efficient and economical methods of procuring these benefits. We know the players – the representatives of state and local government – involved in this business and have worked with a wide variety of clients, including manufacturers, office, retail and commercial developers, and other businesses in negotiating economic incentives packages for their capital projects.