Inslee calls for review of Boeing’s ‘favorable tax treatment’

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Boeing got $2.2 Billion in tax breaks to build the 787 Dreamliner here in Washington. With the production line headed to South Carolina, we asked Gov. Jay Inslee if he will try to claw that money back.

“No. I have not made any decisions. What I’ve said here is we have to take a hard look at that financial relationship,” the governor said.

That includes the breaks Boeing gets on property taxes, on land and buildings, pre-production development costs, aerospace design computers, and new plant construction.

But will Boeing just move more production out of Washington if those tax breaks are rescinded?

“No. They won’t do that, and they aren’t going to do that. I’m very confident of that because they have to make airplanes, and they have to do it in the best place, and they don’t have options in this regard,” Inslee said.

Last year Inslee said it felt like he was being held up when Boeing asked for tax breaks to keep production here.

J.T. Wilcox, the House Republican Leader, said, “I don’t think business leaders forget things like, uh, being called a mugger.”

Inslee rejects the implication that’s what led to Boeing’s Decision.

“No. There’s no evidence of that whatsoever,” he said.

Wilcox urged, “Let’s all go forward and try to create a new partnership with manufacturers and all kinds of businesses in Washington.”

The governor said he won’t let taxpayers be taken advantage of.

“Taxpayers work too hard to pay these taxes; machinists work too hard making these airplanes,” Inslee said. “We can’t be in a position where the companies just dictate to us and we just say, ‘yes sir;’ when when they ask us to jump, we say ‘how high.’”

The 787 tax incentive was removed at Boeing’s request earlier this year in order to settle a dispute with the World Trade Organization.

Now we’re waiting to see what happens with the remainder of Boeing’s tax breaks.

Cox Media Group