The Los Angeles Mid-Alameda Corridor Enterprise Zone encompasses the entire City of Huntington Park. On the October 15, 1986 the City of Huntington Park was designated as an Enterprise Zone by the State of California.  Businesses already in the Zone can qualify for benefits, as can new businesses relocating or expanding into the Huntington Park area.

Incentives

Incentives of the Enterprise Zone program include:

• Sales and Use Tax Credit:
  California income or franchise tax may be reduced by the amount of Sales or Use Tax paid on certain machinery purchased (for exclusive use in an Enterprise Zone).
  $1.45 million or more per year in tax credits is available for qualifying machinery.
• Hiring Credit:
  A qualified business may reduce its state income tax by the amount of wages paid to one or more qualified employee(s) over a five-year period. $23,400 or more in tax credits is available per qualified employee. Some of these employees may also qualify an employer for a Federal tax credit, Worker Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), of up to $2,100.
• Business Expense Deduction:
  Part of the cost of the certain property purchased for exclusive use in the Enterprise Zone may be deducted as a business expense in the first year it is placed in service. (Amount of deduction changes annually; call for current value).
• Net Operating Loss Carryover:
  Up to 100% Net Operating Loss (NOL) Carryover for individuals or corporations doing business in the Enterprise Zone may be carried over for up to 15 years to reduce the amount of taxable income generated within the Enterprise Zone for those years.
• Net Interest Deduction for Lenders:
  A deduction from income is allowed on the amount of “net interest” earned on loans made to a trade or business located exclusively in the Enterprise Zone.

SACRAMENTO, CA – State Senator Lou Correa (Orange County) today announced a comprehensive bipartisan legislative jobs package that contains bills separately sponsored by the Senate Democratic Caucus, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and members of the Orange County legislative delegation.

Declaring that “We need to get Californians back to work”, Senator Correa introduced Senate Bill 1010 in the regular session, Senate Bill 967, Senate Bill 42, in the eighth special session, Senate Bill 1 in the sixth special session, and jointly introduced Senate Bills 965 and 968 in the regular session.

The package’s positive impact is both statewide and focused on Orange County job retention and development, each impacting a targeted challenge.

SB 1010 and SBX8-42 would allow twenty-five (ten of which have to be in Southern California) public and private projects to apply for a “safe haven” from time consuming litigation if they have completed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process after public hearings are held in the region that the project is proposed and, upon approval of the Secretary of Business Transportation and Housing Agency.

According to the Senator, the criteria in selecting these projects shall consider the following determinants: the number and quality of jobs that will be created by the project; the amount of capital investment made by the project; and, striking a balance between projects sponsored by public and private entities.

The Orange County Senator continued by adding that the measure would not exempt the projects from the CEQA but rather helps to reduce the lengthy litigation while respecting our environmental responsibilities.

Continuing with the package’s description, Senator Correa went on to describe Senate Bill 967, a measure dubbed “California First!” which will provide employers with a five percent bid preference in exchange for ensuring that ninety percent of their workers on that contract will be California residents and taxpayers.

Senator Correa added that the measure begins to provide a level playing field with other states that provide the same incentives, and provides greater opportunities for Californians to have good paying jobs that keep tax dollars here in California.

Continuing the discussion of jobs development, the Orange County Senator who also sits on the Senate’s Business and Professions committee, jointly introduced Senate Bill 968, with Senator Negrete McLeod, (Chino) a measure which helps streamline the current process used in retraining unemployed workers to receive skills in emerging or expanding technologies and industries, while ensuring the unemployed worker continues to coordinate their unemployment funds into a seamless process. In highlighting the proposal, Senator Correa stated that “in this challenging environment, our state must be vigilant in ensuring that the labor force be prepared with the skills necessary to take this state out of this deep recession”.

Senator Correa closed out his package with a duo of bills directly impacting Orange County; Senate Bills SB 1 in the 6th special session and SB 965 in the regular session. If enacted, SB 1 would complement central Orange County’s supportive jobs development climate by further adding an additional Enterprise Zone for Orange County in Anaheim. The bill would provide for the California Department of Housing and Community Development to establish such a zone to encourage and stimulate job growth, development, and investment in the community. According to Senator Correa, the measure would provide taxpayers who invest, operate, or locate a trade or business in the targeted area with the ability to receive special tax incentives. This measure is sponsored in part by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce and the Orange County Business Council.

The Orange County Senator went on to state that, “While the latest jobs report is encouraging, we still have nearly one in every ten adults unemployed in Orange County. It’s our job to do all we can to help grow opportunities for more and better jobs here in Orange County.”

The series of Correa employment measures will begin to be considered this week.

Senator Lou Correa represents the 34th District, which includes the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Stanton and Westminster.

Following up on our coverage of the Redlands move to join the local San Bernadino Enterprise Zone, below are the detailed city council discussion and presentation.

Click here to view the minutes of the meeting.

The Sacramento Bee broke the story this morning regarding he senate committees limit on NOLs and getting rid of the ability to transfer tax credits between affiliated companies. Below is the story:

Democratic gas tax plan rolls back corporate tax benefits
The Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday approved rollbacks of two corporate tax benefits as part of a complex gas-tax swap to help close the state’s $19.9 billion deficit.

The committee also approved a 4.8 percent surcharge on residential and commercial property insurance, which would raise roughly $200 million for the general fund.

The Democratic proposal allows companies to apply only 68 percent of past operating losses against their income in 2010, shrinking that tax benefit and increasing state revenues from corporate taxes. Existing state law allows companies to apply 100 percent of certain past operating losses against income in 2010.

The proposal also would prevent corporations from assigning tax credits in 2010 to affiliated corporations or subsidiaries. Current state law allows that practice to occur starting this year.

Those two changes would allow the state to raise $655 million for the general fund. Democrats believe they can pass the changes on a majority-vote basis because they are decreasing taxes on gasoline by a comparable amount, theoretically making the change “revenue neutral.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had proposed suspending those two tax benefits — among others — but only if the state failed to get enough federal help.

The California Teachers Association is gathering signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot that would block those tax benefits permanently.

The Senate Budget Committee passed the changes Tuesday on an 8-2 party-line vote. The full Senate and Assembly would still have to approve the plan.

The thrust of the gas-tax plan is the elimination of state sales tax on gasoline, replacing that sales tax with an excise tax on gas. That would allow the state to account for gasoline taxes in a different way that saves the state $920 million in general fund dollars. All told, the proposal would cut the deficit by nearly $1.6 billion. Drivers would save roughly 3 cents per gallon in 2010–11.

Transit agencies would lose out under the Democratic plan, but not by as much as under Schwarzenegger’s proposal. Democrats would preserve sales tax on diesel fuel, generating an estimated $313 million annually. The state also would give transit agencies $400 million for operations out of an existing transportation account.

The Democratic plan would allow local governments to place on the ballot an additional fee on gasoline to pay for transit. Voters would have to approve any such fee by a majority vote.

Republicans questioned that part of the proposal, suggesting that it was a back-door way of raising revenues without meeting requirements for a tax hike. Democrats responded by saying they were only expanding the authority of local officials.

Categories: State budget, Taxes

Posted by Kevin Yamamura

This is a great city to do business in, and on the October 15, 1986 the City of Huntington Park was designated as an Enterprise Zone by the State of California.  Businesses already in the Zone can qualify for benefits, as can new businesses relocating or expanding into the Huntington Park area.

What specific Incentives for businesses operating in this zone?

Incentives of the Enterprise Zone program include:

• Sales and Use Tax Credit:
  California income or franchise tax may be reduced by the amount of Sales or Use Tax paid on certain machinery purchased (for exclusive use in an Enterprise Zone). $1.45 million or more per year in tax credits is available for qualifying machinery.
• Hiring Credit:
  A qualified business may reduce its state income tax by the amount of wages paid to one or more qualified employee(s) over a five-year period. $23,400 or more in tax credits is available per qualified employee. Some of these employees may also qualify an employer for a Federal tax credit, Worker Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), of up to $2,100.
• Business Expense Deduction:
  Part of the cost of the certain property purchased for exclusive use in the Enterprise Zone may be deducted as a business expense in the first year it is placed in service. (Amount of deduction changes annually; call for current value).
• Net Operating Loss Carryover:
  Up to 100% Net Operating Loss (NOL) Carryover for individuals or corporations doing business in the Enterprise Zone may be carried over for up to 15 years to reduce the amount of taxable income generated within the Enterprise Zone for those years.
• Net Interest Deduction for Lenders:
  A deduction from income is allowed on the amount of “net interest” earned on loans made to a trade or business located exclusively in the Enterprise Zone.

The City of Brawley is in the heart of the Imperial County, which is located in the s­outh­eastern part of the State of California. It is situated approximately 210 miles southeast of Los Angeles, 126 miles east of San Diego, and 30 miles north of Mexicali, Mexico. Brawley is a general law city incorporated in 1908 and has a Council Manager form of government. The 20­07 population is estimated to be 25,694 as reported by the State Department of Finance.

The city of Brawley has a wide range of business credits, if you have a company in the city, please contact us to see which credits you qualify for.

San Jose is the 3rd largest city in California, and the 10th largest in the US. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. San Jose is located in Santa Clara Valley, at the southern end of the Bay Area, a region referred to as Silicon Valley. Once a small farming city, San Jose became a magnet for suburban newcomers in new housing developments between the 1960s and 1990s, and is now the largest city in Northern California. The United States Census Bureau population estimates the city’s population for 2007 as 939,899.

Companies located within the City of San Jose Enterprise Zone may be eligible to receive a tax credit for hiring individuals meeting certain qualifications. If you meet any of the following eligibility criteria you may qualify for the Enterprise Zone hiring credit.

If you want to explore the available tax credits you are entitled to, contact us directly for a free consultation.

The Sacramento Bee had this article today:

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today unveiled a Democratic plan he said would create an estimated 140,600 to 197,600 jobs inCalifornia.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said the Democratic Caucus in the Legislature is introducing 27 bills that are part of an employment plan “that is real, not partisan, not hype.”

He said every measure to be introduced can be approved with a majority vote, and that the jobs-creation ideas could have a “multiplier effect” by creating even more jobs.

“I think people want to see something tangible,” Steinberg said.

Among the proposals:

• — A fee stabilization bill for California’s higher education systems that would set a 5 percent cap on tuition fee hikes in any given year and require students to be given an estimated cost schedule for what it will take for them to finish their degrees.

• — A bill to promote the Employment Development Department’s “work-share program,” which allows hard-hit companies to keep some employees on at reduced salaries with the EDD makes salaries whole in anticipation of an economic recovery and re-hiring.

California companies are not participating much in this EDD program, according to Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who accompanied Steinberg and is author of this bill. The state of New York promoted its program last year, increasing business participation by more than 500 percent and reducing the number of workers needing full unemployment benefits.

• — A bill to restructure the furlough polices imposed by the governor to save money. The bill would exempt employees at the Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization and those in jobs funded at least 95 percent by sources other than the General Fund.

Steinberg hopes to revive a bill that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed last year requiring a mandatory level of renewable energy to be purchased inside California to help create jobs. The bill last year was based on a 33 percent renewable energy goal for public and private utilities by the year 2020. Last year’s proposal would have limited renewable energy credits purchased outside California to more than 25 to 30 percent of the renewable total.

The governor vetoed the bill, saying it could increase energy costs, but Steinberg said he plans to try to convince the governor to work with legislators on reviving a version this year he estimates could create 20,000 jobs.

Other proposals include:

• — A bill to fast track renewable energy projects eligible for stimulus funds. At least 11 projects are waiting for permits from state energy agencies.

• — A bill to streamline obtaining multiple permits to start businesses by starting “one-stop” permit centers through Cal-EPA. Such agencies existed in the mid-1990s to help speed up business and job creation during a an economic downturn.

• — A bill to grant a 5 percent bid preference to a company that can certify that 90 percent of employees on a government contract will be California residents. In an average year, California spends nearly $35 billion on service and consulting contracts.

Some of the bills would authorize the spending of federal funds and bond money for projects already on the books:

• — A high-speed rail bill would authorize investing $2.25 billion in recently granted federal funds to develop such a system in California, creating an estimated 50,625 jobs.

• — Two bills would authorize the state to spend $773 million in federal Qualified School Construction bonds to build schools in 43 school districts, creating an estimated 11,400 jobs.

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The City of Taft was recently awarded the Enterprise Zone designation. “California Enterprise Zones give communities a chance to develop their economic potential, improve their quality of life and contribute to the state’s economy. Enterprise Zones are part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to increase the number of jobs through state and local incentives,” said HCD Director Lynn L. Jacobs. “This is the single most important building block for Taft’s economic growth that the city has had in many, many years,” said Lucille Holt, Taft City Grants Administrator. “Its good news because it is not just for new businesses, but for existing Taft businesses as well.”

Businesses within Enterprise Zones are eligible for substantial tax credits and benefits, for example:
- Firms can earn $37,440 or more in state tax credits for each qualified employee hired.
- Corporations can earn sales tax credits on purchases of $20 million per year of qualified machinery and machinery parts.
- Up-front expensing of certain depreciable property.
- Lenders to Zone businesses may receive a net interest deduction.
- Unused tax credits can be applied to future tax years, stretching out the benefit of the initial investment.
- Enterprise Zone companies can earn preference points on state contracts.
- Up to 100% Net Operating Loss (NOL) carry-forward. NOL may be carried forward 15 years.
As you can see, Kern County and the City of Taft are positioned for an exciting future. We are also working with 4th District Supervisor Ray Watson regarding other plans that will create even more exciting possibilities for the greater Taft area.