A Washington D.C.-based watchdog group says a Kansas business incentives program is mostly benefiting large businesses. The PEAK program allows businesses to keep most of the state withholding taxes when certain types of jobs are created. The group Good Jobs First says the program is biased against smaller businesses, while larger organizations are less likely to need the assistance.
Matt Keith, with the Kansas Department of Commerce, says the goal of the PEAK program is creating jobs.
“Larger firms that have more than 100 employees are going to tend to create more jobs all at once. They’re likely to have more PEAK eligible projects,” says Keith.
Keith says the report didn’t consider other state incentive programs aimed at smaller businesses. He says the study’s definition of a large business is also broader than some other definitions.
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An advocacy group based in Washington D.C. says a business incentive program in Kansas is biased in favor of large businesses. The PEAK program allows businesses to keep most of the state withholding taxes when they create certain types of jobs. The group Good Jobs First says larger organizations are less likely to need to help provided by PEAK.
Matt Keith, with the Kansas Department of Commerce, says the group is only looking at one of the state’s incentives.
“There are a lot of other ones that are designed specifically for small businesses. If you look at something like Angel Investor Tax Credits, those would be available to start-up businesses, small businesses,” says Keith
Keith says PEAK is aimed at growing jobs and larger firms can create more jobs all at once.