P.A. 198 allows local communities to offer tax incentives to manufacurers and high tech firms for research and development centers. Available to eligible business to renovate or expand existing manufacturing plants or to build new ones, these abatements can reduce property taxes – real and personal – for up to 12 years. Companies that replace or restore obsolete buildings or machinery may be 100% exempt from new property taxes on the value of the improvement. Under P.A. 198, local units of government may reduce local millage by 50%, and the state can abate the 6 mil statewide education tax for companies building a new plant or purchasing new equipment.

Contact: Dan Oegema, Economic Development Corporation. (616) 456-3681.
E-mail: doegema@ci.grand-rapids.mi.us