Florida Makes Pitch to Lure GE Out of CT

Florida is the latest state to make its pitch in an attempt to lure General Electric out of Connecticut.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal reports Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development agency, has taken out radio ads in Connecticut touting its taxes and promising a visit from Gov. Rick Scott.

The ad states, “If you are a business that wants to pay less taxes so you can earn more money, come to Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is coming to Connecticut to share the Florida story of lower taxes and more jobs.”

Listen to the ad here.

Indiana recently took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal lending its support to GE, along with fellow Connecticut companies Aetna and Travelers that criticized the state’s new business tax increases in the recently adopted budget.

• Related: GE Notifies Employees It’s Looking for a New Home

Indiana Governor Michael R. Pence also sent a letter to GE CEO Jeff Immelt, along with Aetna’s Mark T. Bertolini and Jay S. Fishman of Travelers, and personally invited them to Indiana.

At the beginning of June, Immelt sent an email to the company’s Connecticut employees, notifying them that he has “assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment.”

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who hasn’t signed the approved budget into law yet, recently proposed business tax rollbacks to the state budget. However, legislative leaders State Senate President Martin Looney and House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, recently said at an event in New Haven that they would listen to the governor’s proposal but won’t be swayed by threats made by GE that led to the plea.

Read more about Florida’s pitch to GE at the Tampa Bay Business Journal here.