MADISON – $ 3 billion deal between Foxconn and Wisconsin taxpayers allows Taiwan tech giant to receive tax credits each year if the company creates hundreds of jobs each year, a goal that the Governor Tony Evers could call it "too expansive".

Representatives from Evers and Foxconn are in talks to rewrite a contract outlining the significant investments that Foxconn must make in Wisconsin in order to qualify for taxpayer-funded grants – an agreement that currently forces Foxconn to achieve its goals by job creation before a tax credit can be granted to the State paid.

"These goals may be too ambitious," Evers said Sunday during an appearance in WKOW's "Capital City Sunday." "That's 1,300 jobs or 13,000 jobs, any state governor, including mine, wants them to succeed and create as many jobs as possible."

By 2018, the company was to create 260 jobs to qualify for tax credits, a goal that it had failed to achieve by 82 jobs. The number of jobs that the company must create to continue receiving credit increases each year by several hundred.

Evers said Foxconn having "changed their footprint" in Wisconsin, "we need to look at how we can all benefit from it," but added that it was premature to say what specific changes could be made.

Evers' comments on Sunday provide a first clue to potential changes to the state contract with Foxconn.

Over the past few months, the company has announced that it would build in Racine County a smaller manufacturing plant than originally planned when former governor, Scott Walker, had signed a contract in 2017 with the company. company in exchange for 13,000 jobs and a $ 10 billion facility.

RELATED: President Vos predicts changes to Foxconn contract will not be approved, but company will create 13,000 jobs

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Mr. Evers said last week that he no longer believed that the company's projects would result in many jobs in the state and wanted to change the contract to reflect fewer expected positions.

It is unclear whether Evers administration officials and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. also plan to reduce the percentage of salaries and capital investments that state taxpayers cover if the scope of the project is reduced.

An Evers spokesperson was not immediately available to answer questions Sunday.

Pay-for-performance provisions protect taxpayers from the state if Foxconn does not create jobs or investments, but the payments it could earn if it lives up to its promises are generous compared to the incentives offered to the public. By other companies.

Foxconn would receive 17% of taxes incurred by taxpayers covering 7% of corporate wages. Foxconn would also get 15% of its capital investment repaid instead of the usual 10%.

Evers said: "It is premature to say how we are going to get there, but the fact is that they have made a business decision and we are working with them and that discussions are underway to consider changing the business. ;agreement."

Of the $ 3 billion of public incentives Foxconn is eligible for, Foxconn is currently creating 13,000 full-time jobs with an average annual salary of $ 53,875 and $ 1.5 billion in credit.

Foxconn can receive $ 150 million in sales tax exemption on Foxconn's Wisconsin purchases and could get $ 1.35 billion in additional credits by investing $ 9 billion in its Mount Pleasant complex.

The tax credits are "refundable", which means that if Foxconn does not owe taxes, it will still receive the funds. Given that Wisconsin removes virtually all taxes on manufacturing profits in the state, it is likely that Foxconn's credits would take the form of cash payments.

Assembly President Robin Vos of R-Rochester said Sunday that Foxconn was now part of Wisconsin's "ecosystem" and believed Foxconn would continue to create 13,000 jobs in that state. because society remained standing. by this figure.

Vos, who represents the Assembly District where Foxconn builds its first manufacturing campus in the United States, said last week that Uvers was compromising Foxconn's deal with the US government after declaring it would renegotiate the contract.

"It goes beyond my understanding to think that a Wisconsin governor is fundamentally in favor of the failure of the greatest economic development in the history of our state," Vos said during the summer break. an interview with WISN.

But Evers said officials in his administration were working with Foxconn officials on potential changes.

"We are working directly with Foxconn on this, it is not an imposition of Evers to Foxconn, it is the administrations of Foxconn, WEDC and Evers who are looking for what it is like." "There is better for this company and for the state of Wisconsin," said Evers.

A spokeswoman for Vos and a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who also criticized Evers comments on a possible amendment to Foxconn's contract, also were not immediately available Sunday.

Rick Romell of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Contact Molly Beck at the Capitol Office at (608) 258-2263 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

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