It’s a good time to have a front-row seat to North Carolina’s economy.

The last 10 years have seen unparalleled growth, according to economists and stakeholders, attracting employers near and far through a pointed strategy: building megasites.

What You Need To Know

  • Billions of dollars have poured into the state from megasites

  • The architect of the corporate tax incentives said it's too good for most corporations to refuse

  • The North Carolina corporate tax rate is one of the lowest in the country

While a charged effort to draw in companies for mass employment in communities across the state feels like a recent theme, the roots took hold long ago.

JetZero's announcement out of Greensboro to hire more than 14,000 people will be another footprint in the state's timeline of prosperity. 

Related: JetZero plans to build $4.7B plant in Greensboro, aims to create 14,500 jobs

Before megasites became a tool for drawing in companies, state leaders looked at projects like Research Triangle Park as a successful example. North Carolina has become the place to be for businesses in the United States, said the economist who came up with the tax incentives that help megasites get developed.

“Of course, businesses have a variety of needs,” said Michael Walden. “Obviously the site is not the only one, but yes, it’s been a very successful complement to North Carolina's strategy.”

Walden is a key player in the state’s economic success. The economist, now a retired N.C. State University professor, designed a blueprint for North Carolina’s lucrative incentives. With that model, corporations and large-scale employers are taxed at favorable rates when they meet a list of criteria.

“In fact, I wrote the computer program that the Department of Commerce uses to evaluate incentives. The idea being that, yes, you may be paying money upfront in order to attract this business, but in the long run, you’re going to make that money back in terms of additional tax revenues from this new business that comes here,” Walden said.

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, a nonprofit organization, describes megasites as a large parcel of developable land capable of being quickly put to use for large industrial operations. The organization lists the state’s corporate tax rate at 2.25%, making it one of the lowest corporate income tax rates in the country. The group also expects the state corporate tax rate to drop to 0% by 2030.

Advanced manufacturers like Toyota and General Electric Aerospace, which is a major producer of commercial and smaller body aircraft engines, have made use of these megasites. At the same time, these corporations have brought thousands of jobs to communities in the process.

The chief executive officer of the Economic Development Partnership said this strategy has reaped billions of dollars in economic impact for the state since the big push for the building of megasites began in North Carolina. 

"They will put in the utilities, they will oftentimes, put in some roads so that they can then go to a company that they’re courting and say, look, we’re ready to go. As soon as you decide you want to come here to North Carolina and build your factory, here’s a site that you can you can use,” Walden said. “It’s been used across the country whereby a public entity like the state will acquire a large amount of land.”

Walden explains the good outweighs the bad when it comes to capital investments that use state tax dollars.