The following article was posted in the Huffington Post, June 15, 2010 from
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Today, I joined Governor Schwarzenegger to visit the site of a company that
chose to stay in our great city and preserve 600 jobs for hard-working Angelenos.
I want to thank Baxter BioScience for turning to our Office of Economic and Business
Policy when they began to have doubts about Los Angeles being the best city for
them to call home. I'm glad we made our case, and I think we proved that our jobs
and economic development team -- with First Deputy Austin Beutner at the helm --
is willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.
Since last February, my office has been meeting with Baxter to figure out we could
do to keep their company and the vital jobs it has created here in Los Angeles. We
listened to the employees of Baxter and learned how to develop and implement
policies that will attract and retain businesses as well as create good-paying jobs
right here in Los Angeles. And then we worked hard to actually make that vision
a reality!
In fact, one particularly smart, business-savvy policy -- the approval of Los Angeles'
State Enterprise Zone -- directly contributed to Baxter's decision to stay. When the
East Side Enterprise Zone was expanded to include Baxter BioScience, the company
was able to lower their operating costs with their new-found eligibility for special tax
credits.
And this is happening to companies throughout the entire City. As we have aggressively
expanded our enterprise zones, Los Angeles has gained the remarkable distinction of
having the most acreage with enterprise zone designation -- out of every city in California!
The bottom line here is that Baxter is just one example, since it is impossible to know
how many other companies have decided to stay in LA and hire more people because of
the tax credits and deductions they gained from being in a Special Economic Zone.
Baxter represents the results-driven approach to our newly refocused Office of Economic
and Business Policy.
And today, we have an exciting announcement that will give Los Angeles businesses
another tool to help them thrive and grow: the Business Tax Holiday will attract
new enterprise to Los Angeles by exempting them from any gross receipts tax for
three years.
The effectiveness of tax holidays has been proven: my office commissioned a study
at USC Business School that suggested the Business Tax Holiday would yield no loss
in tax revenue. In fact, it would spur enough job growth to create more tax revenue. This
tax holiday will create an estimated 55,000 new jobs with 12% unemployment. That is
exactly the kind of jump start our economy needs.I am proud of the fact that our office
is leveraging every resource at our disposal to put Angelenos back to work, and I am
thrilled that Baxter reached out to us and ultimately chose to stay in LA. So on that note,
I would like to thank Baxter again for believing in our City and for inviting us here today to
celebrate a major milestone in their evolution as a company. 

                           
                            Photo: Courtesy of Governor's Office

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the following statement after joining Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to announce the city’s proposal of a Business Tax Holiday and
that Baxter’s BioScience business, a biotechnology company, has decided to continue its
investment in California, a decision based largely on the recent expansion of the East Los
Angeles Enterprise Zone:

“I applaud Mayor Villaraigosa and the city of Los Angeles on their continuing
efforts to bring companies and jobs to the Los Angeles area. For our economy
to recover we need the private sector to add jobs, and the proposed Business
Tax Holiday and recent expansion of the East Los Angeles Enterprise Zone are
two surefire ways to do exactly that. It’s great news that Baxter’s BioScience
business has decided to continue its investment and preserve jobs right here
in California as a direct result of the East Los Angeles Enterprise Zone expansion,
and I look forward to celebrating the passage of the Business Tax Holiday and
the new businesses it will bring to California.”