Several states across the U.S., as well as the federal government, are keeping a close eye on the results in the Grand Canyon State. This is the struggling start of the IT training tax credit movement, which is becoming a sequel of sorts to the H-1B visa expansion of last year. Arizona has just enacted such a law, and other states, as well as the federal government, may follow. At both the national and state levels, lawmakers are pushing legislation that would use the tax code to encourage workers to learn IT skills. Supporters say this is necessary to fill the ongoing technical worker shortage.
Skeptics argue that companies are trying to foist their expenses onto the government.
Everyone realizes that we are short of trained workers and that it is only going to get worse. That won't mean much to large employers in the area, like Motorola Inc. and American Express Co., but it's directed at smaller employers like Orthologic Corp. in Tempe. Orthologic has a 12-person IT staff that makes frequent use of various training providers, which makes the company a perfect candidate for the tax credit. Nevertheless, until recently, Chuck Murphy, Orthologic's director of IT, had never even heard of the law. The group is primarily made up of software developers, IT consultants and IT service businesses.