Economic Development

By Gregg Kravitz

There are far too many smart, qualified and hard-working Pennsylvanians who have lost their jobs or are underemployed. I have a multi-faceted approach to put Pennsylvania back to work.

2. Work to expand funding for vocational training to allow job seekers to acquire the technological or mechanical skills needed to obtain employment.

3. I will ensure that more federal stimulus money is distributed to Philadelphia and, more importantly, that the stimulus money that is received is quickly and effectively put to work. Philadelphia applied for $310 million and was approved for $157 million in stimulus money, but to date has received and spent far less. This is unacceptable. I will offer my assistance to Philadelphia City Council and use the power of my office to ensure that Philadelphia's stimulus money is put to use.

4. Recently, $27 million in stimulus money was allocated to Philadelphia to be used for Green jobs. I will advocate for the continuation and expansion of Green job tax credits and local infrastructure improvement projects that put Pennsylvanians back to work. Green technology is the key to bringing jobs to Pennsylvania, and to that end I will introduce legislation requiring all new construction or substantial renovation of state buildings, public universities and schools to meet Green Building Standards. These measures will create new jobs and offset the up-front increase in construction costs by lowering overhead costs for state buildings.

5. I will introduce legislation to reform the Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) Program to make sure it works for all Pennsylvanians.

The KOZ Program provides incentives for developers to construct new buildings on unused or underutilized parcels of land, such as old industrial sites or abandoned warehouses. Once developed, businesses are offered tax incentives to move into these new buildings. This program sounds great on the surface. In practice, there are significant problems that the KOZ program creates which must be addressed:

A. Philadelphia is giving away its most valuable real estate without any policies in place that require businesses taking advantage of these tax breaks to create and maintain job growth.

B. Philadelphia is experiencing increased vacancy rates in office buildings that are not a part of the KOZ program. This increase vacancy occurs because tenants are moving into KOZ buildings in order to take advantage of KOZ tax breaks. This causes the state and local municipalities to lose tax revenue since current tax-paying businesses in Pennsylvania are incentivized to move to new office space that give away tax relief without asking for anything in return.

C. The KOZ program creates short-term construction jobs to build KOZ buildings, but it fails to address the need to promote long-term, organic economic growth.

To address these problems, I would propose the following:

A. Require businesses taking advantage of KOZ tax relief to maintain job growth in order to continue receiving KOZ tax benefits. KOZ businesses would have to reapply for KOZ tax benefits on a yearly basis, so that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania get more jobs in return for KOZ tax breaks.

B. Create the greatest tax incentives for KOZ buildings in the most impoverished neighborhoods. This way we will develop our struggling communities and bring jobs to areas of Pennsylvania that are most in need of economic relief.

C. For KOZ buildings in neighborhoods with high real estate value (such as Center City), only offer KOZ tax benefits to businesses currently based outside of Pennsylvania so that we encourage new companies to bring jobs and economic growth to Pennsylvania, instead of simply giving away our most prized real estate to current Pennsylvania employers. This will also create more business for the local retail stores (such as restaurants and small shops) that depend on a vibrant business community to succeed.