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Minge bill puts subsidy debate on national ag... INFORMATION Page 1 of 6 <br /> Poet ,wast,for <br /> • <br /> 111010411it � . a few beim <br /> tor 7 flint IN ex- 3 <br /> 11111=12111110E11 vb- presidents user! <br /> '11 55 * <br /> Published Wednesday,December 3, 1997 <br /> Minge bill puts subsidy debate on national <br /> startriene.com agenda <br /> Beiness <br /> Mike Meyers/ Star Tribune <br /> Early last year,the Connecticut parent company of Value RX-- a <br /> firm that manages prescription drug benefits for HMOs and <br /> self-insured employers --was planning to consolidate its operations <br /> in one of four states --Minnesota, Michigan,New Mexico or <br /> Arizona. <br /> Minnesota was chosen after the state and the city of Plymouth <br /> offered Value RX a$250,000 grant and $250,000 low-interest loan. <br /> In return,the company promised to grow within two years from a <br /> • payroll of 10 to more than 200 employees. <br /> Value RX quickly overshot the goal and now employs 700 people, <br /> from call center workers making $23,000 a year to clinical <br /> pharmacists and other medical specialists making $40,000 to about <br /> 20 executives making six-figure incomes. <br /> Many might call Value RX a success story. Instead of losing a <br /> handful of jobs to another state, Minnesota gained hundreds of <br /> well-paying jobs -- and stands to gain a tidy sum in personal and <br /> corporate income taxes. <br /> But grants, cheap loans and other forms of subsidies each year take <br /> billions of dollars out of state and local treasuries nationwide and <br /> have become controversial as the economic warfare between states <br /> has escalated with larger and more visible subsidies. <br /> A bill introduced in Congress by Rep. David Minge, D-Minn., seeks <br /> to end the economic wars by imposing an average 35 percent excise <br /> tax on such aid. The idea is to create a tax hefty enough to discourage <br /> companies from seeking subsidies. Or, as Minge said, "It's a tax we <br /> hope not to collect." <br /> Nationwide, an estimated 8,000 state and local agencies underwrite <br /> • business relocations and expansions with a basket of subsidies that <br /> can grow into the hundreds of millions of dollars for a sports <br /> http://websery l.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?stories=10&pgraphs=l&orderBy=PUB 12/3/97,&next <br />