TX School District Already Foregoing $209 Million In Tax Revenue Wants To Give Away Even More To New, 3rd Plastics Plant

[hatrack]

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Exxon, which reported nearly $34 billion in profits in 2024, is seeking a 50 percent reduction in its school district property taxes for 10 years, beginning in 2031, when the project would come online. It’s one of hundreds of similar agreements under various programs across Texas. Exxon’s application said it also planned to seek abatement agreements with the county government, the groundwater conservation district and the Calhoun Port Authority.

“Tax abatement programs drive local economic progress by spurring new jobs, investments, and long-term additional tax revenue,” said an Exxon spokesperson, Kelly Davila. “The abatement program we’re applying for will do just that for Calhoun County, if we move forward with the project.” Once completed, the project would create 600 jobs with competitive pay, Davila said. During peak construction, it would employ 3,000 workers. After the abatement agreements expire, the project will pay more than $80 million per year in local taxes, Davila said.



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Calhoun County has foregone about $209 million in revenue under currently active tax break agreements with petrochemical companies, according to a recent study by New York-based Autocase Economic Advisory, which was commissioned by Texas Campaign for the Environment. “While these incentives aim to attract and retain businesses, they also result in significant revenue losses for local jurisdictions and statewide funding for schools,” the report said.

Autocase compiled 13 active agreements with Calhoun County or the school district beginning as early as 2013 and ending as late as 2035. The largest share of all tax breaks, some 71 percent, went to Formosa Plastics, a $250 billion company that employs 3,700 people and nets about $1 billion per year at its 2,500-acre complex on Lavaca Bay, and to its sister company, Nan Ya Plastics. Other tax breaks went to Dow Chemical’s Seadrift complex, and to Lynas Rare Earths, an Australian company that is building a “first of its kind” facility to separate rare earth minerals in Calhoun County. Autocase did not consider tax break agreements that have previously concluded, or agreements with non-chemical companies.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01052025/texas-school-district-enters-tax-break-negotiations-with-exxonmobil-plastics-plant/

[gab13by13]

1. That's what they said about the Cracker Plant outside of Beaver, Pa.

Now they are talking about selling it.

Oh and do not live downwind from a plastics factory.

[marble falls]

2. Ah, the hot scent of injection molding plastics in the morning, it's the smell of future cancer clusters ...

As if I needed another environmental reason to not live from Beaumont to Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Of course they're putting another plastics company on the Refinery Coast.

[walkingman]

3. Texas government could care less about the people in the state

they only care about business at any cost. The people obviously agree because that constantly re-elect some of the most disgusting politicians ever. Just weird.