‘Tax Holiday’ Seen Helping Port of Los Angeles, Officials Say
A proposal that new companies locating in Los Angeles be given a three-year exemption from paying the city business tax would be a “shot in the arm” for the Port of Los Angeles and the harbor community, port officials said.
The three-year “tax holiday,” proposed last week by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) and two members of the city council, would “attract businesses and create the good-paying jobs Angelenos need to see them through these tough economic times,” Villaraigosa said in a statement.
If the tax holiday is approved, officials said, any loss in revenue would be offset when new companies and their employees purchase goods and services from existing firms, which, in turn, pay business taxes. It also would create 55,000 new jobs, according to an independent analysis from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
“This is good news for the Port and L.A. Harbor community,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Geraldine Knatz. “It’s another way to attract the next generation of companies serving the maritime and goods movement industries here at the nation’s largest trade gateway,” she said.
