As construction crews build Panasonic’s new $4 billion factory here, the Kansas tax subsidy law that helped bring the electric vehicle battery plant to the state is set to evaporate. Kansas officials no longer have the power to underwrite mega-deal projects with hundreds of millions of dollars in state incentives. The law, known as APEX, only let the state ink one deal each year in 2022 and 2023. Those tax giveaways for those two years went to Panasonic and Integra’s planned $1.8 billion semiconductor plant in the Wichita area. Paul Hughes, the state’s deputy secretary for business development, asked lawmakers to extend the law into 2024 and beyond to keep open the possibility of bartering in tax breaks that might tempt other large employers to Kansas. Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration touts the law as a way for the state to take an active role in boosting the economy.
Source: KCUR News
