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Tax_ <br /> • <br /> zones <br /> • <br /> raise <br /> • <br /> questions <br /> State JOBZ program <br /> lures cities, counties <br /> BY MIKE HUGHLETT <br /> Pioneer Press <br /> KASSON, Minn. — City Planner Dan King <br /> can step outside of city hall in this southern Min- <br /> nesota town and envision the power of JOBZ, <br /> shorthand for a deep well of tax breaks for <br /> greater Minnesota and the largest state-run <br /> business subsidy program in recent state <br /> history. <br /> Just across the street,King foresees a couple <br /> of acres of vacant city-owned <br /> land sprouting businesses now <br /> that they're part of a Job Oppor- t4 A <br /> 11, <br /> tunity Building Zone. Ditto for <br /> two lonely, privately owned x , <br /> parcels behind city hall. 3 <br /> And then there's JOBZ's x <br /> potential for Kasson's fastest- 1 } aa <br /> growing employer, a bakery Y <br /> equipment firm located across a Dan <br /> cornfield from city hall. With a King <br /> tax-free zone next to the plant, <br /> King figures Kasson would be a lock for the com- <br /> pany's eventual expansion. <br /> The promise King sees in JOBZ is cropping up <br /> in city halls and courthouses throughout the <br /> state, setting off a land rush of sorts. Failure to. <br /> land a tax-free zone, many believe, might put <br /> cities and counties at a competitive disadvantage: <br /> More than 300 Minnesota communities will <br /> host tax-free zones, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty <br /> announced last week.Businesses that move into:; <br /> the zones,or expand in them,will pay almost no <br /> taxes. No sales taxes. No taxes on property <br /> improvement. No taxes on equipment purchas;.� <br /> • es.No income taxes. <br /> TAX-FREE ZONES,9A <br />