Exxon Appears to Mislead State to Secure Tax Break
In an effort to secure about $65 million in tax breaks, Exxon appears to have misled the state about how far along it was in deciding where to build a $1.9 billion plastics plant.
In July, Exxon applied for a tax exemption for two proposed plastics processing units at its Baytown facility. The company had already secured approval from Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District to reduce the taxable value of its investment from about $700 million to just $100 million for 10 years. To get final approval from the Texas comptroller’s office, Exxon has to pass what’s called a “but for test” — but for the massive tax breaks, it wouldn’t build the plants in Texas. To prove that it was still considering other states, Exxon claimed in its application that the “project is still in an evaluation stage” and that “no regulatory permit applications have been filed.”
But Exxon had already applied for two permits for the plant. In October 2017, the company asked the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to approve an air emissions permit. Then, in January, the company submitted another application for a wastewater permit for the plastics units.
The timing of the permit applications is crucial because it appears to indicate that Exxon was moving forward with building its facility at the Baytown location even as it told the comptroller’s office it had not yet decided where it would build.
Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/exxon-appears-to-mislead-state-to-secure-tax-break/
