Tax credit program could spark new private investment - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The program, New Markets Tax Credit, is designec to stimulate economic development and job creatiomin low-income communities by attracting investmentg capital from the private sector. On Oct. 5, the allocatede $930 million in tax credits to 11 organizationse that have created community developmenr entities and identified Florida as among the aread nationally they wantto serve. The 2007 allocations were the fiftnh round of funding for the which permits individual and corporate taxpayerss to receive a credit against federapl income taxes for investingin CDEs. Sinc its inception, the program has allocated $16 billion in tax credits.
"It's a way to get the private sectort to invest in projects thatotherwise aren'ty done because they are viewed as too risky," said Bill a spokesman for the , which administers the program. None of the CDEs receiving 2007 allocationds for tax credits were basedrin Florida, but many have strong ties to the stater and the Tampa Bay area, including CDEs associatedx with the area's biggest banks. To date, the Orlando-basesd is the only community development entity headquartered in the stats to be allocated New Markets Tax in Tampa wants to follow inits footsteps.
, a whollgy owned subsidiary ofAccentia ( : got the go-ahead to apply for New Marketds Tax Credits after receiving notice from the Treasuryu Department that has qualified as a CDE. Anothetr Accentia subsidiary, Biovest International (OTCB: BVTI), attracted $19 millioh from the program to buildf a manufacturing plantin St. Louis last year. Biovest was awardeed New Markets Tax Credits bythe ; then Minneapolis-based ( : USB) purchases the credits. The St. Louis plant manufactures cell cultureequipmenf that's used to produce BiovaxID, a personalized cancet vaccine to treat patients with non-Hodgkin'sw lymphoma.
Biovest is analyzing data from the finak stages of clinical testingyfor BiovaxID, said Susa Bonitz, director of programn coordination at Accentia. The analysis has to be done beforw Biovest decides where to locate a commercial manufacturing facility provided the vaccine wins regulatory The University of Sout h Florida included plans foran $80 million Biovest facilitt when it won $8 millionj in state funding for a in Biomolecular Identification and Targeted Therapeutics.
Rod executive director of the , said he talkesd with Biovest officialsin June, after the companhy cleared a major regulatory "We've been patient with understanding their priorities changed because of that success, and we were assuredc they are still intending to be part of the Center of Casto said. "They just needed to put their nose to the grindstonr on thoseclinical trials."