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Larry Blanchard, a consultant for the Lake County Board of Commissioners, said county records indicate the taxes big industry pays have dropped a combined $86 million in the last decade, thanks to legislation passed in 2003 that reduced land values and the tax value of their industrial equipment. Those companies include U.S. Steel's Gary Works, ArcelorMittal's East Chicago plant and the BP Whiting Refinery.
Dan Lowery, president of Calumet College of St. Joseph, argues the decision to grant tax relief to big industry was a benefit to all in Northwest Indiana.
"The steel industry was still hurting when that happened," Lowery said. "The boom in steel started right after that. That also was before BP committed to its ($3.8 billion) expansion project. The investment they made in that plant, could have been made elsewhere."
Jill Ritchie, director of public policy and state governmental affairs for U.S. Steel, said, "Improvements in the state of Indiana's property tax structure have allowed companies like ours to reinvest in our facilities. Over the past decade, U.S. Steel has invested more than $1 billion in capital in our plants in Northwest Indiana.
"The most recent example of such reinvestment is the new $200 million Carbon Alloy Synthesis Project at Gary Works. These investments secure high-quality, family-sustaining jobs within our company, generate hundreds of construction jobs -- and create significant business opportunities for other local businesses and service-providers and their employees," Ritchie said.
Lowery added, "It's hard to imagine U.S. Steel closing, but over time, every time there was an investment opportunity it would go elsewhere. It would be a slow bleed, and the loss of jobs would spread not only to the immediate contractors who provides goods and services to those industries, but also all the furniture stores, the grocery stores," Lowery said.
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