Hall: SOAR, MEGA Tax Credits Need To Be Done To Move Forward On Economic Development

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/23/2025) In order for legislative leaders to strike a deal on economic development, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) says the permanent elimination of the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve or "SOAR" corporate grant program and the MEGA tax credits to large businesses must happen "before we're going to move on anything."

"We're meeting, and we're getting closer to a deal, but we'll have to eliminate the MEGA credits and eliminate SOAR permanently – repeal it – before we're going to move on anything," Hall said on today's episode of the MIRS Monday podcast.

Right now, Hall's office, Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) and Reps. Mark Tisdel (R-Rochester) and Mike Hoadley (R-Au Gres) are working on creating a "Real Jobs Tax Credit" program. The program would be worth $50 million annually, giving awarded businesses a yearly payroll credit worth up to 50 percent of their income tax withholding until 2036.

Last week, Singh talked to MIRS about Senate Democrats' goal to see that, for every job retained, the company must make a $100,000 "hard investment" into the state within five years of accepting the incentive.

Hard investments could include purchasing from Michigan vendors to retool facilities, building brand-new infrastructure, offering workforce development programs and childcare access initiatives.

Meanwhile, for Hall, he wants to see the SOAR Fund permanently removed from state law. Before being emptied out in legislators' October budget deal, the program offered multi-million dollar grants directly aimed at attracting large-scale corporate developments to Michigan.

In December 2021, Hall supported the initial creation of the SOAR Fund and its earliest $1 billion appropriation from better-than-expected tax revenues following the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also wants to see MEGA tax credits eliminated, which were used heavily by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration to keep major automakers operating in Michigan amid the Great Recession. Preserving the tax credits has been a huge priority this year for MichAuto, the automotive and technology business association affiliated with the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Hall also noted on the podcast that he would want the state Treasurer responsible for overseeing the tax credit, not the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

"MEDC cannot be trusted with this. I mean, you look at what a failed record they have … every deal they've entered into, they spent a lot of money, and they didn't get the jobs," Hall said. "It's really important to us that small businesses can get this. If they're creating jobs, they can get this. We want to see it be a tax credit, and we want to see it broadly applied (to) employers that pay above-average wages. We shouldn't be paying for below-average wages."

He said when Ford Motor Company was awarded $120.3 million from the SOAR Fund to develop the BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, the offered jobs paid $48,000 salaries.

"We're listening to some of Sam's ideas too. I mean, Sam has some very valuable experience working on this when Governor (Rick) Snyder was in office through the 'Good Jobs,' and so that's really helpful to hear his perspective," Hall said.

The Snyder-era program ended in December 2019, and offered $200 million in incentives. It refunded awarded businesses – like the Acrisure financial technology company and the Pfizer Inc. biopharmaceutical provider – on their personal income tax withholding.

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