Minnesota regulators are offering tax incentives in hopes of luring more large corporations to the North Star State, and at least one major medical device and diagnostics player is thinking of taking advantage of the offer.
Illinois-based Baxter (NYSE:BAX) already owns a facility in Brooklyn Park, Minn., and is considering expanding there in exchange for tax breaks of $4,000-$9,000 apiece for the 190 jobs the company says the facility will create, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
"Future decisions on additional investments will be made over time to expand on the technical capabilities of the site and equip the site for biosimilar production," Baxter International spokeswoman Deborah Spak told the news site. "Incentives may impact these future decisions and additional investments."
The deal with Baxter, which lawmakers are reportedly referring to as "Project Fern," is part of the state’s initiative to lure jobs, regardless of what industry they stem from.
"I don’t know if they’re making face lotion or curing Alzheimer’s," state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D), the chief author of the incentive proposal, told MPR.