Fewer companies seeking tax breaks in Nebraska

The state signed fewer than 40 tax credit agreements in fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30, according to two reports released Thursday by the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

This is significantly less than the 57 deals signed in the last financial year and appears to be the lowest single-year total since 2011, when just 15 deals were signed.

All but one of the deals were signed under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act, a new program that began in 2021 and replaced the Nebraska Benefits Act, which stopped accepting new applications at the end of 2020.

However, companies that already have agreements under the program can still apply, and one company, GSK Consumer Health, which has a facility in Lincoln and now operates under the name Haleon, has proposed a $3 million investment and the creation of 30 jobs.

There were 10 tax incentive agreements involving Lincoln companies in the last fiscal year, all of them small.

The largest number of jobs proposed in a single project was 30 for Neogen, and the largest investment proposed by Lincoln Tool & Design was $6 million.

Statewide, the largest investment to date is from Citroniq Chemicals, which is proposing a $1.3 billion investment and the creation of 80 jobs.

Citroniq announced in a press release in September that it plans to build a green plastics plant in Nebraska that will use ethanol as a fuel. While the company has not said where in Nebraska it plans to build the plant, its application for tax incentives lists sites in Nebraska City and Blair.

The tax credit deal offering the most jobs is Omaha-based JEZ Investments LLC, with 120.