Senate Bill 200 aims to attract big business to Del.
Research and Development. It’s vital to company growth and some Delaware lawmakers hope it will be key to bringing big business to the First State.
“I think that we will see a good return on our money spent,” said Senate Minority leader Gary Simpson.
Simpson tells 47 ABC that the “Committment to Innovation Act” would make Delaware a pioneer, being one of three states in the country and the only east of the Mississippi to offer specific R and D tax credits to businesses. As of now, there’s a tax credit cap of $5-million for a Delaware-based company’s R and D efforts. If Senate Bill 200 is enacted, the state would remove that cap.
“a company that does a lot of research and development which is the type of companies that we’d like to attract in Delaware. It would be much more advantageous for them not to have that cap placed on their research and development efforts coming into the state,” said Simpson.
The bill would also modify the “New Economy Jobs” tax credit to encourage companies to locate their corporate headquarters in Delaware. If they do, they’ll get tax credits based on the company’s withheld state income taxes. Simpson says the bill’s drafting was for the most part in response to DuPont leaving town. After their announced merger with Dow Chemical, Governor Jack Markell promised to reform the state tax code by lifting the tax credit cap. Encouraged by that, DuPont and Dow decided to locate the headquarters of their joint agricultural company in Wilmington.
Simpson told us, “this bill specifically helps to retain that corporate entity here in Delaware, the Ag-chemical sector, which is a very big sector of DuPont’s business today, not only in Delaware, but worldwide,”
We’re told that if the bill is passed, it would most likely have a big impact on New Castle County, attracting big business to the area. Even so, Simpson is not ruling out that it could be beneficial in Kent and Sussex counties too.
The bill is still in committee but Simpson is hoping for a Senate vote next week.
