North Carolina's newly signed legislation that overhauls much of the state's tax code reflects a tactical shift from efforts to attract large scale labor intensive manufacturing investment to more capital intensive investments such as data center construction.

The Associated Press reported on Friday that - according to email correspondence between state officials it had acquired through a public information request - North Carolina's Senate Bill 575 was pushed through the legislative pipeline specifically to prevent Apple from building its $1 billion data center in Virginia instead of North Carolina. But state representatives said changes to the tax code reflected modern business realities and were not drafted specifically to influence Apple to locate its data center in the state.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue announced earlier this month that Apple had decided to build the facility in the state, bringing new jobs and extra tax revenues. Perdue made the announcement the same day he signed S.B. 575, changing the way corporate income tax is calculated for "capital-intensive" businesses.

AP reported the bill effectively promised Apple a $46 million tax break, had the company settled on North Carolina as the location for its data center.

Kathy Neal, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Commerce, while agreeing that the bill would undeniably benefit Apple, was hesitant to confirm that the project in question was the single impetus for the legislation.

"I don't know that we have ever asserted that ourselves," Neal said about the assertion AP made in its report. She added that while the legislation did make it more favorable for Apple to locate in North Carolina than in Virginia (another state the company had considered), any company that met the bill's criteria would qualify for similar tax breaks.

The new legislation, Neal explaines, reflected "the 21st century nature of business today," when many large companies no longer build manufacturing plants that create thousands of jobs and produce physical product.

"As with most states, our tax code (was) based on the labor-intensive manufacturing (model) of 50s and 60s." A data center is "a different type of creature, compared to a widget factory."

Traditional tax incentives are designed for companies that create a much larger volume of jobs and manufacture physical products. Apple will invest $1 billion into the project that will create about 50 permanent jobs.

Besides benefiting from the very large initial investment in the project, many "indirect" and "induced" jobs will be created in North Carolina from services provided to the facility and from more money being spent at other local businesses.

"This bill is an attempt to recognize the role capital-intensive companies now have in our economy," Neal said. "We want that investment in North Carolina and we also want them to be treated appropriately in terms of tax legislation."