St. Louis-based seed giant Monsanto is negotiating a possible incentives package that would reduce the amount of property taxes the company has to pay for a planned greenhouse in Pima County, Arizona.
The Arizona Daily Star reported Monday that under the current proposal, the Monsanto greenhouse parcel’s tax bill would roughly be reduced by two-thirds.
Monsanto has offered to invest $100 million in the greenhouse while hiring up to 60 people to work there, the Arizona Daily Star also reported. Monsanto researchers would use the greenhouse to research corn and soybean seeds.
Each year, state agencies and the federal government together send billions of taxpayer dollars to some of the largest corporations in America, several of which are major agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto.
A Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting analysis of Good Jobs First data shows that Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, Caterpillar, John Deere, Monsanto and Syngenta have received in excess of $596 million in financial backing from state and local agencies throughout the past few decades.
On a federal level, those seven companies have received at least $18.5 billion in backing since 2000, according to the analysis.