Joplin offers $1B incentive package to Tesla

Joplin is courting Tesla with an offering of $1 billion in incentives.

Toby Teeter, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, said Tesla is seeking a site in the Midwest to build a factory that could employ up to 7,000 people.

The facility would be a so-called gigafactory, a word used by Tesla founder Elon Musk to describe a large plant that would produce the company's new electric pickup truck.

The incentive package from the chamber and city of Joplin proposes more than 1,000 acres in the Wildwood Ranch development.

Under the proposal, Tesla would be allowed to buy the site for a 50% discount and qualify for a 100% tax break for 12 years.

Read more from the Joplin Globe.