iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Vermont is more than the place that provides the nation with delicious maple syrup, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Now, it’s the state that will pay you up to $10,000 in moving and business expenses to move there.
On May 30, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill committing his state to paying people to pack their bags, move to his state and work remotely for a business in another state.
According to the state documentation, the state will award no more than $125,000 in 2019, no more than $250,000 in 2020 and no more than $125,000 in 2021. Subsequent calendar years’ grants are to not exceed $100,000 annually.
The goal is to draw more people to Vermont whose population is under 625,000 with 15,000 fewer workers than in 2009, according to a website of the state’s governor, Phil Scott.
State officials have already been overwhelmed with the response to the moving incentive program.
“I’m getting calls from Wisconsin, Texas, Florida, D.C., you name it,” Joan Goldstein, the state’s economic development commissioner, told “Good Morning America.” “It’s all over the country … My email boxes are overflowing. It’s a wonderful thing.”
To qualify for the new program, you must work remotely and full time for a business not located in Vermont and establish state residency by Jan. 1, 2019. Current residents of the Green Mountain State are not eligible.
According to state officials and the official summary of the new legislation, the financial incentive is intended to help cover a worker’s moving costs and business expenses related to working remotely, such as for new technology.
“It’s not going to be where we are going to write checks and people are going to come,” Goldstein said. “It’ll be more like reimbursement for moving expenses, that sort of thing.”
The state is working out some details of how the program will run, Goldstein said.
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