Michigan’s largest corporate subsidy program, the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve, has yet to create a single job more than three years after its creation. It promised to create nearly 9,000 jobs. These facts come from an analysis of newly released documents from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which oversees the state's handouts to businesses.

Companies have already collected $670 million in taxpayer money with nothing to show for it. SOAR was created in 2021 and sold as a game-changing tool to create jobs and spur economic growth. But to date, not one of the 8,812 promised jobs has materialized.

“The program was poorly designed from the start,” said James Hohman, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “It allows companies to cash in on taxpayer subsidies without having to create jobs. Lawmakers must wait years to ask for taxpayer money back if deals fail to deliver. It’s good that the House lawmakers are working to redirect this money to roads.”

Legislators in Lansing are currently debating a $3.1 billion road funding package that would tap into unused and underperforming business subsidy programs like SOAR. Among other changes, the plan moves $1.1 billion from corporate handouts to maintenance of Michigan’s roads.