MADISON - To lure Foxconn Technology Group to Wisconsin, state residents will have to do more than just forgo taxes from the Taiwanese electronics giant. They will have to pay cash — writing checks for up to $200 million a year.

The subsidies for the deal would amount to nearly 50 times the previous record paid by Wisconsin taxpayers to secure a manufacturing plant in the state. Instead of getting the previous state standard of 7 cents in tax credits for every $1 in qualifying payroll checks to workers, Foxconn would get 17 cents in credits — a change that will have to be approved in special session legislation Gov. Scott Walker released Friday.

And because Wisconsin already waives almost all taxes on manufacturing profits in the state, these incentives represent not a lost opportunity at collecting revenue but an obligation to pay cash to Foxconn out of the state treasury for up to 15 years. When including a $150 million sales tax break for buying construction material, the incentive package could total up to $3 billion, according to the bill that lawmakers could vote on as soon as Tuesday.

That figure doesn't account for the still undisclosed additional incentives that local governments will have to provide. The bill would increase caps on those local subsidies, ease environmental regulations on Foxconn and provide $252 million in state additional borrowing for rebuilding I-94 south of Milwaukee, a key corridor for the Foxconn plant being slated for Racine or Kenosha counties.

Supporters of the record jobs deal say Wisconsin would win a keystone manufacturer that would bring world-leading technology and attract suppliers that would create their own jobs. Detractors say it amounts to a multibillion-dollar bet on a company that makes screens — a product subject to constant market-disrupting competition and innovation.

David J. Ward, an economist who has studied foreign investment in Wisconsin, backs the deal and says the state is lucky to have the chance to accept it.

"It is a good problem when you have opportunity," said Ward, who sees Foxconn as too attractive to pass up.

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The decision could come in a matter of days as lawmakers consider the Foxconn incentives contained in the agreement signed by Gov. Scott Walker and the company Thursday.

Steve Deller, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of applied economics, hopes lawmakers will scrutinize the agreement. He pointed out that a Racine or Kenosha County plant will be close to the state line.

"A lot of these jobs are going to be going to people in Illinois. They're going to be commuting. The question is how many?" he said.

The legislation would:

Exempt the project from an environmental impact statement. The state Department of Natural Resources conducts impact statements for large projects, with recent examples including the proposed golf course by the Kohler Co.

Allow the company or its contractors to discharge dredged material and fill into wetlands without state permits, though federal permits could still be required. The legislation would also exempt Foxconn from a requirement that companies try to avoid filling wetlands when possible, though the firm would have to restore wetlands elsewhere if it did.

Let the company build on a riverbed or lakebed, connect artificial bodies of water with natural waterways and change the course of streams without getting state permits. The Foxconn plant is expected to need large amounts of water from Lake Michigan.

Exempt the project from having to get certain approvals from the Public Service Commission, authorize lower utility rates for Foxconn for at least 10 years and allow transmission lines to be relocated without state approval.

Provide a major undisclosed tax credit package to Brookfield financial services company Fiserv to keep the company headquarters in Wisconsin.

Jump-starting freeway work

Rebuilding I-94 south of Milwaukee is years behind schedule and funding that work has contributed to a month delay in passing the state budget.

Putting $252 million toward the project would help get the project back on track and could help resolve the budget dispute. Some Republicans have resisted approving more borrowing for highways in the state budget, and the issue may more easily be addressed in the separate Foxconn legislation.

Touring the state Friday, Walker had a ready answer to critics of the deal.

"There's a whole lot of people out there scrambling to try and come up with a reason not to like this," Walker said in Eau Claire, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. "That's fine, but I think they can go suck lemons."

The $10 billion Foxconn factory could employ up to 13,000 workers making computer screens and televisions and spur the creation of as many as 22,000 other jobs at suppliers looking to locate near Foxconn or at retailers catering to their employees.

Those numbers come from a report by Ernst & Young paid for by Foxconn.

Once fully ramped up, the project would generate $181 million in state and local taxes, the study found. That figure, however, does not account for the up to $200 million in annual tax credit payments to Foxconn.

The report assumes that for every 10 jobs at Foxconn the deal would create an additional 17 jobs. Deller was skeptical the indirect job creation would be that high.

The Foxconn bill would expand on existing state incentives known as enterprise zones, which require companies to demonstrate investments and job creation before getting state money.

Typically, an enterprise zone employer must first pay workers at least $30,000 a year to qualify for jobs tax credits. The credits phase out for salaries above $100,000.

State taxpayers would cover 17% of these qualifying Foxconn salaries instead of the usual 7%, according to the bill. Foxconn would also get 15% of its capital investment paid back instead of the usual 10%.

The largest state subsidy for a manufacturer in Wisconsin's history came in 2010, when then-Gov. Jim Doyle's administration offered $65 million in subsidies to keep Mercury Marine from moving a factory from Fond du Lac to Oklahoma.

Two years ago, Walker and lawmakers also approved a deal that provided $250 million in state and local incentives to the Milwaukee Bucks to build a new basketball arena.

Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said that it was difficult to predict whether the Foxconn project would gain or lose state tax revenue.

“The short answer is we don’t know,” Berry said. “In some ways, we may have a better sense of what we will pay out … than we know about what the benefits will be.”

The proposal is getting a warm reception from Republicans, including some of the most conservative lawmakers.

State GOP Sens. Duey Stroebel of Cedarburg and Frank Lasee of De Pere said they liked the basic plan because the incentives won't get paid out if Foxconn doesn't create jobs. The deal is expensive, but provides a “great payoff” for the state, Lasee said.

“I don’t like the government picking winners and losers, but the reality is we live in a world where other states and local governments are willing to do that," Lasee said.

Some Democrats disagree.

"Wisconsin taxpayers should not be subsidizing private corporations at the expense of our children, schools and roads," Rep. Jimmy Anderson (D-Fitchburg) said this week.

Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.