Louisiana Legislature Passes Tax Credits to Promote R&D

The 2002 Special Session of the Louisiana State Legislature has yielded a series of tax credits that aim to benefit biotechnology companies in Louisiana, promote commercialization of technology, encourage R&D investments, and make the state more competitive in information technology. The tax credits are as follows:

• Biotechnology Tax Credit — Excludes biotechnology companies from paying sales and use taxes on capital expenditures for new research equipment.
• Technology Commercialization Credit — Offers marketable R&D tax credits to induce Louisiana entrepreneurs to commercialize research conducted at Louisiana universities.
• Research & Development Tax Credits — Encourages the state's businesses to invest in and increase their existing levels of R&D by offering tax credits to match proportionally any company's claim for federal research credits or Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants.
• Customized Computer Software Development Tax Credit — Phases in a state sales and use tax exclusion for certain custom computer software over a four-year period.

The tax credits are part of the state's efforts to facilitate a knowledge-based economy. Earlier this year, Governor Mike Foster outlined an economic development plan, The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy for Vision 2020, that included $187 million for a Biosciences Initiative (see the March 15 issue of the SSTI Weekly Digest).

Special thanks to Vic Johnson, Technology Transfer Manager of the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office, for giving SSTI the lead on this story.