Walker Hopes Manufacturing Tax Credit Lures Companies Over the Border

Gov. Scott Walker visited Gateway Technical College's iMET Center in Sturtevant Thursday to promote partnerships between government, business and the state's colleges and universities.

The goal, he said is to get people the skills they need as quickly as possible so they can move into family-supporting jobs and a future.

Walker highlighted Gateway's CNC and welding boot camp programs, which typically run six to 16 weeks, that help employers find the workers they need and help individuals start careers into which they can continue to grow and earn family-supporting wages. 

But, he also touted a manufacturing tax credit that he hopes will bring companies from Northern Illinois up and over the border into Wisconsin. The manufacturing production credit, Walker said, is expected to accrue by 7.5 percent by 2016, effectively wiping out those companies' taxable liability.

"We're going to invite hundreds of manufacturers from Illinois to gather with us just over the border so they can see what we're doing here," Walker said. "I think we make a pretty compelling case that this is the place to be if you're a manufacturer." 

Walker's stop in Sturtevant comes the day before he leaves on a trip to China to promote American products that a growing Chinese middle class is demanding.

"We're talking about exports from Wisconsin for the rising middle classes in countries like China, Brazil and Chile," he said. "We plan to meet with a number of governors from the provinces and representatives of the federal government in China about trade agreements."