That whole I-94 corridor in WI is exploding with activity right now, just across the IL border. Besides FoxConn, there is the Amazon fulfillment center, the U-Line warehouse, IKEA, tons of warehouses for smaller companies fleeing IL, and plans for a $250MM hospital, 2 new hotels, and a $242MM building for Haribo (gummy bears).
On the FoxConn deal, I wouldn’t really be concerned at all if they just gave away tax credits (because they would be giving away taxes that they wouldn’t have ever received anyway). But the issue here is that they gave away “refundable” tax credits. That means that WI has to write a check to FoxConn if the tax credits exceed the tax liabilities. That creates an incentive for FoxConn to reneg and have less activity than they forecasted. This is why there is so much wrangling going on regarding their changing plans there.
Whether this deal works out or not and the magnitude of it not working out really does depend on the differential between the refundable tax credits and the tax liabilities. FoxConn had a reputation for being slippery and other governors properly took that into account while Walker ignored it and doubled down. He essentially gambled with someone else’s money to try to fulfill his campaign promises for job creation.
