MUNSTER | A Democratic candidate for Indiana governor would offer tax credits to businesses creating jobs in economically distressed counties.

Jill Long Thompson said she believes incentives, including tax credits ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 to businesses for the creation of each new job would address high rates of unemployment and round after round of layoffs and factory closings,"

Thompson visited Lake County Tuesday in her campaign to win support and votes in the Democratic primary for governor.

Thompson, a former Indiana U.S. representative and under secretary of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture is competing with Democrat Jim Shellinger.

Thompson said her plan would provide the largest incentives, including up to a 7 percent tax credit for business property expenditures for the hardest hit counties. It also requires businesses to provide workers pay above the average wage level and health-care benefits and be free of environmental violations.

Purdue University Professor James Papke, who helped Thompson develop the proposal, said it is friendly both to union demands of a living wage and businesses. He said most Indiana counties are distress according to federal standards and would qualify for larger incentives.

Thompson said it is a much more focused proposal than Gov. Mitch Daniels' "one-size-fits-all" approach of property tax cuts to all businesses.

"The more economically depressed a county, the better the tax incentive. This would be permanent and ongoing. It would cost nothing to the state because it would be generating business not already here."

She said Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Nebraska offer similar incentives.