Mississippi businesses can receive much-needed help getting back on their feet from Hurricane Katrina thanks to the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, which offers some of the most significant tax incentives in the state’s history.

New and relocating businesses also qualify for the incentives.

“It really is unprecedented,” said East Mississippi Business Development Corp. President Wade Jones.

Approved by Congress in December, the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, or GO Zone, provides federal tax incentives to businesses in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Lauderdale County is one of 49 counties in Mississippi eligible for the incentives, which include a first-year 50 percent depreciation deduction, a provision that allows businesses with less than $400,000 of annual investments to expense up to $200,000 of investments, and a provision that allows businesses to expense up to 50 percent of their cleanup and demolition costs. However, the window of opportunity to take advantage of these incentives is limited as most expire after 2007.

State Treasurer Tate Reeves said GO Zone falls in line with Mississippi’s current focus on “creating better and higher-paying jobs for our people.”

“These incentives do, in fact, lead to more investments in the local community, such that in many instances it will be the difference between a deal getting done and a deal not getting done,” Reeves said.

Reeves also hinted that it may provide new hope for landing an automobile manufacturer or other major employer in Meridian.

“Specifically for Lauderdale County, it could be the difference in a plant locating here versus a plant somewhere else in the United States where these incentives are not available,” Reeves said.

Gil Carmichael, senior partner with MissSouth Properties LP in Meridian, said businesses would be foolish not to take advantage of the incentives.

“I think it is going to stimulate the, pardon my language, but the durnedest construction in Mississippi that I have seen in my lifetime,” Carmichael said. “Everything can be restored and repaired. I just want to see how many projects we can take on in the two- to three-year time frame.”

Jones encouraged existing local businesses to take advantage of the incentives.

He said it also provides the area with a tremendous leg up in trying to lure new industries.

“We now have incentives that justify investment,” Jones said. “When a company is considering a location in the Southeastern United States, often they will say they are planning on having the facility in two or three years or that they may do the project but are looking at plant size, equipment needs, employment and the location. This will accelerate that process because these incentives will justify that investment.”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Anyone curious about what other incentives are offered and how they may be applied for should contact either the Mississippi Business Finance Corp. at (601) 355-6232 or the Mississippi Development Authority at (601) 359-3449. Both organizations have Web sites as well at www.msbusinessfinance. com and www.mississippi.org.