Actually, the state looks at their biotech grants more as investments, not gifts. Hopefully we’ll get some new jobs out of it. You may not be at work this holiday, but your tax dollars are.
Unlike the old days, when states just handed out tax breaks and hoped for the best, these companies have to return the money if they don’t create jobs. Still, critics wonder whether companies — like one of the largest pharmaceutical makers in the world — need state money to create jobs. If they need workers, critics say, the companies will create the jobs anyway.
So, the question becomes — Does Sanofi-Aventis deserve a $2,450,000 reward for expanding its workforce by 100?
This from the Mass LIfe Sciences Center:
Waltham, MA – The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced today that the Center’s Board of Directors has awarded $23.9 million in Tax Incentives to 30 life sciences companies. The companies receiving tax incentive awards have committed to creating nearly 1,000 new jobs in the Commonwealth over the coming year.
The Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program, established in 2008 as part of the state’s ten-year, $1 billion Life Sciences Initiative, authorizes up to $25 million in tax incentives each year for companies engaged in life sciences research and development, commercialization, and manufacturing. The primary goal of the program is to incentivize life sciences companies to create new long-term jobs in Massachusetts.
…The Tax Incentive Program is jointly administered by the Center and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR), which will oversee the technical administration of the incentives. Jobs that are created must be maintained for at least five years. The Tax Incentive Program mandates that awarded companies submit reports and respond to inquiries by the Center and DOR regarding employment figures. If a company receiving a tax incentive under the program does not meet and maintain their job creation commitment, the credit can be “clawed back” (recovered) by DOR, requiring that the company pay back all or a portion of the tax incentives they’ve received.
The 30 life sciences companies that will receive tax incentives, the city or town in which they are located, the amount awarded and each company’s job creation commitment for 2011 are as follows:
Aileron Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge $538,705
BIND Biosciences, Inc., Cambridge $269,353
Bluebird Bio, Cambridge $269,353
Boston Heart Lab, Inc., Framingham $440,000
Caliper Life Sciences, Inc., Hopkinton $270,000
Cytonome/ST , Boston $248,546
Foundation Medicine, Inc., Cambridge $78,777
HighRes Biosolutions, Inc., Woburn $125,000
InfraRedX, Inc., Burlington $861,928
Instrumentation Laboratory, Bedford $808,058
Interlace Medical, Inc., Framingham $75,000
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge $996,605
LeMaitre Vascular, Inc., Burlington $115,000
Lightlab Imaging, Inc., Westford $75,148
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge $1,346,763
Nanobiosym Diagnostics, Medford $673,381
NormOxys, Inc., Wellesley $144,378
Nova Biomedical Corp., Waltham $55,000
Novartis Institutes, Cambridge $1,131,281
NuOrtho Surgical, Inc., Fall River $573,000
NX Stage Medical, Inc., Lawrence $1,346,763
OPK Biotech, Cambridge $110,000
Organogenesis, Inc., Canton $457,899
Sanofi-aventis US, Inc., Cambridge $2,450,000
Shire HGT, Inc., Lexington $5,855,368
Still Rivers Systems, Inc., Littleton $296,288
Sunovion, Inc., Marlborough $942,734
Valeritas, Inc., Shrewsbury $480,000
Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge $2,424,173
Viacor, Inc., Wilmington $480,000 _