The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Fronius USA, LLC up to $4.25 million in performance-based tax credits based on the company's job creation plans. The city of Portage will consider additional property tax abatement at the request of the Portage Redevelopment Commission and the Portage Economic Development Corporation.

Niedrist said the Austrian-based, family-owned company chose Indiana for its strong educational system, solid network of suppliers and access to logistical services.

Herndler said the company also is union-friendly.

"We have unions in Austria, and we have a good relationship with all of them. We are not afraid to be a union company," Herndler said.

Six months ago, I said that you would see this exact fact pattern, Conley said today. I said it would occur where companies are adding substantial payroll and they have the flexibility to move their operations.

The lure of tax credits from other jurisdictions will be just too substantial for many companies to resist, especially when coupled with lower wages and a less unionized workforce in many other states, he said.

Also, cached from Paul Egan, Detroit News Lansing Bureau:

Finney said the MEDC offered Fronius a $12.8 million package that included about $7 million in MEGA credits, plus local government incentives. The MEDC is seeking clarification from Fronius because it was originally told Fronius chose Indiana because it offered a bigger incentive package, Finney said.

Snyder is moving Michigan away from the use of tax credits to attract out-of-state companies. He says a better growth model is economic gardening, under which lower taxes, streamlined regulations and a generally improved business climate encourage new companies to form and existing companies to stay and expand. A centerpiece of Snyders plan was the elimination of the Michigan Business Tax in his recently approved budget. The tax, which applied to nearly all Michigan corporations, was replaced with a 6 percent profits tax which is applied to only a minority of corporations that issue public or private stock.

Industry tax credits in Michigan, not counting film industry credits, have totaled about $200 million a year in recent years.

Finney said $100 million will be available for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 and the state has great flexibility, including use of loans and grants, in how it doles out the money to carefully selected firms.

Its not true Michigan will no longer offer incentives, Finney said. Instead, were out of the tax credits game.

And furthermore:

Fronius is registered in Michigan as Fronius USA LLC, meaning that like most other businesses in Michigan it would not be subject to the new corporate profits tax or any Michigan business tax, starting next year.

Indianas corporate tax rate of 8.5 percent is slated to drop to 6.5 percent by 2015.

The fact is that Rick Snydholm, who founded the MEDC, along with his appointed crony Finney from Ann Arbor SPARK, offered up 201% more just to stay Headquartered in Brighton, than what then Indiana offered in performance based tax credits to Fronius LLC, of which, is relocating to a higher tax rate state, of which, Indiana as of February 1, 2012, is now a totally Free To Work State that does indeed affect a Headquarter business decision for seeking its surrounding supplier base.

And really, if the intent is to argue that Michigan Goonionized Publik Edjuwkayshun needs to be inline with Indiana's $9,569 per pupil figure: I'M ALL FOR IT!

Finally, googler, you fail again to grasp the understanding in the business world what "the handwriting is on the wall" truly means.  So I must say, I find your rather poorly researched comment choice to be interestingly amusing.

This is a fitting example of exactly how far out of touch Rick Snydholm is in business as an Exec who knows mainly from peddling his crappy computers in cow patterned boxes with how to interact with Communist China, leveraging tax dollars through his love for grants for campus contracts playing with dead babies, and how very little about even treading water with competing border states.