ATN Generates $45 Million in Personal Income Tax Revenue to the State Treasury

MONTGOMERY, AL (January 8, 2020) – A recent study by the W.E. Upjohn Institute found the Alabama Technology Network (ATN) provides a net positive economic impact to the state.  ATN, an entity of the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) serves as the state of Alabama’s center for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), which is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

ATN engaged the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research to analyze the overall effect of ATN projects on the state of Alabama’s economy.

The Upjohn study reports that the $1.8 million federal dollars invested in ATN during FY2018 generated nearly a 25.08:1 increase in state personal income tax.  For state funds invested the ROI was 9.67:1 creating a net positive return to the state treasury of an estimated $45 million.  The study only looked at personal income tax and not business taxes, so it is a conservative estimate of the return. In addition, this analysis provides a conservative estimate of broader impacts as they are based on only completed surveys and do not include estimates of additional impacts of center-activities for non-respondents to client-based survey on cost saving, investment, employment, and sales changes as collected by an outside firm. The firm, Fors Marsh works not only to collect data from ATN clients, but also collects the same data for all MEP centers across the country.

The study estimates that in 2018 total employment was impacted by an additional 8,148 jobs because of ATN’s work with manufacturers in the state.  This estimate includes both direct, indirect, and induced jobs generated by ATN client projects.  These jobs support additional manufacturing jobs critical to Alabama’s and the U.S. supply chains and jobs outside of manufacturing.

The Upjohn study also examined additional areas of ATN’s potential economic impact to the state to include; a contribution to the GDP of $893 million; personal income of $437 million; and having an effect on the state’s gross output of $2.26 billion.

The NIST MEP program is a public-private partnership created in 1988 to improve the global competitiveness and productivity of America’s small manufacturers. MEP has Centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico dedicated to serving small and medium-sized manufacturers

Alabama Technology Network provides the most extensive training and service offerings for business and industry, ensuring the best possible source for business needs. To learn more about ATN, please visit www.atn.org.