New Jersey offers billions in tax incentives as Amazon continues hunt for second headquarters

[Greg S]

A hot potato: City residents in Newark, New Jersey are questioning whether it is worth offering Amazon and other businesses billions of dollars in tax incentives to make the city a new headquarters location. Some argue that new jobs and long-term investments will help the city, but others believe the incentives will wipe out any benefits that would have been gained.

Newark, New Jersey is one of the 20 remaining cities still entertaining the idea of being home to Amazon's second corporate headquarters. Incentives being offered by state and local governments are ranging from unique to flat out massive tax breaks.

In Newark, several ordinances have recently been passed by the city council. Up to $1 billion in additional tax breaks have been added to its offer, bringing the total package deal to a value of approximately $7 billion.

Even though Amazon could be the main recipient of such benefits, the Newark Community Economic Development Corp. says that any company that brings in 30,000 new jobs and makes investments exceeding $3 billion over a 20-year time span is eligible for the benefits.

Out of the subsidies being pitched to Amazon, Newark's is definitively the largest that has been publicly disclosed. Newark has made an offer exceeding that of Boston, Denver, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and three different areas within Washington, D.C. Numerous other candidate locations have kept their offers private.

One reason that Newark could be an attractive location for Amazon is that it already is home to subsidiary Audible Inc. Additionally, Newark has four major highways, two rail stations, a large port, and a significant international airport.

According to nonprofit group Good Jobs First, such a massive financial incentive could leave New Jersey with little to gain from welcoming Amazon into the area.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/75889-new-jersey-offers-billions-tax-incentives-amazon-continues.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Truly ridicules that any American city would willingly pay blackmail to a company, none the less with the wealth Amazon has to come to their town. Now THERE would be a good national law, prohibiting the expenditure of tax dollars or future tax dollars on revenue in order to attract any company. I doubt many Americans have actually looked at their financial earnings and realize just how badly they are ripping off the buying public ......

 

[crocography]

Yep only the people / companies with billions get free money from the government. As a rule the rich do get richer and the poor do get poorer. I completely agree with Uncle Al, this sort of blackmail money should be illegal.

 

[skinnybuttons]

I, for one, applaud this. Mainly because I don't want Amazon here in Northern VA, destroying the already inflated housing market. You go NJ, sell your tax payer's souls out to the beast

 

[TomSEA]

This falls in the "be careful what you ask for" category.

I live in Seattle and my gf has an apartment directly across the street from Amazon's headquarter offices. That is, one of them. Their office complex covers several blocks of prime real estate in downtown Seattle.

So yes, it has generated jobs and brought money into the city. But what Amazon has also brought with that is: 1) massive traffic - both vehicle and foot traffic - congestion, 2) a huge housing/apartment shortage that has driven prices up to some of the highest in the nation, 3) a large influx of foreign workers who have no clue as to the most basic common courtesies of living in a major American metropolis, 4) massive skyscraper construction projects for more Amazon offices that have essentially blocked the famous panoramic view anyone had of the Puget Sound waterfront, and 5) probably worst of all, an invasion of vagrants and homeless people who are setting up homeless camps everywhere including on city sidewalks, doing nothing more than following the money as they know it's where they'll get the easiest handouts.

I don't know if the city will ever be the same. But after living here for the bulk of my adult life, I'm now looking for ways to get out. And soon.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Makes me want to {barf}.

 

[mbrowne5061]

This falls in the "be careful what you ask for" category.

I live in Seattle and my gf has an apartment directly across the street from Amazon's headquarter offices. That is, one of them. Their office complex covers several blocks of prime real estate in downtown Seattle.

So yes, it has generated jobs and brought money into the city. But what Amazon has also brought with that is: 1) massive traffic - both vehicle and foot traffic - congestion, 2) a huge housing/apartment shortage that has driven prices up to the highest in the nation, 3) a large influx of foreign workers who have no clue as to the most basic common courtesies of living in a major American metropolis, 4) massive skyscraper construction projects for more Amazon offices that have essentially blocked the famous panoramic view anyone had of the Puget Sound waterfront, and 5) probably worst of all, an invasion of vagrants and homeless people who are setting up homeless camps everywhere including on city sidewalks, doing nothing more than following the money as they know it's where they'll get the easiest handouts.

I don't know if the city will ever be the same. But after living here for the bulk of my adult life, I'm now looking for ways to get out. And soon.

Just stay away from LA, NYC and Boston. Those are the only places where the rents are higher.

 

[Evernessince]

At it's current tax rate of 6.37% for people making $75,000 or more, NJ makes $1,911 per job. This equates to a total of $57,330,000 in tax dollars in exchange for $7,000,000,000 Even after 20 years they will have recovered only $1.1 billion of that cash. In no universe is this a good deal for taxpayers, more like a handout for big companies. What's even more ridiculous is that they are given 20 years to create those jobs.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

I hope they come to Washington DC. We have ZERO traffic, LOTS of undeveloped land, and our resident-based TAXES are practically non-existent. Sometimes I actually feel like I am STEALING from the government just to be able to live here.