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It's been represented as $3 billion in tax breaks. Here is it represented as $3 billion in incentives. Not necessarily the same thing. It's an important distinction.
This is great. This is how it should be.
So, too, did Corey Johnson, the speaker of the City Council; Mr. Johnson held hearings instead of the private meetings Amazon requested.
Amazon was pissed that the people in the community would have a say as opposed to politicians behind closed doors. Are we saying that back room deals are a good thing? These happen to indeed be Democrat lawmakers but is this not how all lawmakers should act?
Is this really something new? Wal Mart has been turned away by communities before because they were not seen as good neighbors.
The company instead felt that, with little sign that the opposition was dissipating, it was staring down a decades-long commitment to a political climate in which everything the company did would be scrutinized.
Boy that sucks doesn't it? Amazon not wanting anyone to question what they do. It must have hurt when people starting questioning their working conditions.
The article notes how the company wasn't interested in convincing the people of the neighborhood that they wanted to be a good neighbor. They led them to believe that they weren't interested in that. That doesn't sound any different than what we have seen before.
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NY does nothing but fumble opportunities left and right. In Western New York - Bass Pro was going to build a superstore which would have revitalized Buffalo and the Riverfront. It was much needed and in the end they scrapped the project. Back in 2007 a private company was going to build a bridge that could be used as an alternative to our Peace Bridge between Canada and the US - providing rail service as well as commuter service. After 9 yrs of it being in the works - the plan was scrapped while a similar bridge is being built between Detroit and Canada.
The Peace Bridge needs major repairs - the plan has been in committee for years. NY does not know how to manage anything that could revitalize these areas and bring good jobs and money back into the communities and then Cuomo complains when people move out of state.
It's been represented as $3 billion in tax breaks. Here is it represented as $3 billion in incentives. Not necessarily the same thing. It's an important distinction.
It was technically both tax breaks and incentives combined to get to $3 Billion - with most of it being incentives that are available for any company via policies that have been in place years.
Quote:
The opposition was primarily to a package of nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and incentives that Amazon stood to reap for relocating and hiring a planned 25,000 people at its new site. That and assorted concerns about Amazon’s widespread use of minimally paid fulfillment center workers. But it was the incentives that became a lightning rod.
That issue, however, is misunderstood, and it cost Amazon and the city of New York dearly. Amazon was not given a special $3 billion in backroom deals as an incentive for choosing New York. Amazon qualified for more than $1.2 billion in state incentives, and nearly $1 billion in New York City tax incentives, but neither of those programs were specific to Amazon. The state incentives and tax breaks are part of a longstanding Excelsior Jobs Program that offers such benefits formulaically to any company creating jobs in the state; the city incentives would go to any company relocating to the city. Those programs were in place before Amazon, and were not developed to woo it. That is why it is so misleading to characterize the incentives and tax breaks as a juicy package secretly concocted in Albany and New York City to pitch Amazon.
...Most estimates of the long-term tax revenue from higher-paid Amazon employees were many times the $3 billion in subsidies, not to mention the critical mass of new jobs and development centered in an area of Queens that has lagged behind western parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
"There is a small island of highly educated professionals making good wages at corporations like Intel or Boeing, which reap hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit per employee. That island sits in the middle of a sea of less educated workers who are stuck at businesses like hotels, restaurants and nursing homes that generate much smaller profits per employee and stay viable primarily by keeping wages low.
Even economists are reassessing their belief that technological progress lifts all boats, and are beginning to worry about the new configuration of work.'
"If you’re among the sea of hotel and restaurant workers that Porter describes, you know you’re likely never going to be qualified for one of the jobs that Amazon is creating in your backyard"
There are plenty of low wage jobs around already....is probably some of what the NYC area folks calculated. Amazon is big into automation....the <2,000 jobs per year (25K maybe after 15 years) will be mostly people figuring out how Amazon can use less workers. These people will need lots of bagels and pizza and vegan food. Jeff B. will give it them with Whole Foods.
I think the next big steps for these big corps is in the South or more depressed areas of the Midwest. Places that are really thriving don't want to place big bets on a single hand. Or, they may just keep as they are - decentralized in a sense. Amazon will have 10's of thousands of workers and subs in the NYC area no matter what.
Answer the question. How many tax breaks will I get if I want to open a local business?
Large scale usually means you get a better deal. The guy buying 1000 dishwashers can negotiate a lower price per unit than the guy buying one dishwasher. As I mentioned earlier with mall operators, an anchor tenant like Macy's can negotiate lower rates and more concessions than some local boutique because of the additional foot traffic and other benefits that the anchor tenant provides.
There are many examples of government incentives that are horribly structured (ex. Most stadium deals), but I don't believe that the idea of incentives are inherently bad just because the company they're offered to is large.
It was technically both tax breaks and incentives combined to get to $3 Billion - with most of it being incentives that are available for any company via policies that have been in place years.
It doesn't help that AOC who is either a pathological liar or an imbecile kept putting out false statements on the matter.
Nah, it wasn't just her representing it as tax breaks but all the same, it's makes her statements more factual. That money can now be used for the people as opposed to a company.
Nah, it wasn't just her representing it as tax breaks but all the same, it's makes her statements more factual. That money can now be used for the people as opposed to a company.
AOC was making many false statements. Like that Amazon pays zero to fund firefighters, teachers, public roads, etc... AOC is either a pathological liar or an imbecile, because there are taxes besides federal income taxes and Amazon paid over $1,200,000,000.00 in taxes inside the US last year. Her zero numbers are pure BS.
Also the 25,000 employees in NYC would have been paying taxes.
AOC said the $3 Billion was a special backroom deal...which is BS from this BSer. The vast majority came from policies that are years old and apply to any company.
She should attack those policies honestly not use BS in a way that confuses the masses.
Large scale usually means you get a better deal. The guy buying 1000 dishwashers can negotiate a lower price per unit than the guy buying one dishwasher. As I mentioned earlier with mall operators, an anchor tenant like Macy's can negotiate lower rates and more concessions than some local boutique because of the additional foot traffic and other benefits that the anchor tenant provides.
How is the government favoring one business over another Capitalism? I'll not argue that a larger company buying 200 copiers less expensive than a business buying one can be, but we are talking the government picking favorites.
Quote:
There are many examples of government incentives that are horribly structured (ex. Most stadium deals), but I don't believe that the idea of incentives are inherently bad just because the company they're offered to is large.
Subsidized mailing costs. That's Socialism. It is even favoring Chinese companies shipping for Amazon over the American companies that are subsidizing the costs.
I used to sell a bit on the internet. It would cost me more to send a package to the next state than a company selling on Amazon out of China could send the same item to that state.
AOC was making many false statements. Like that Amazon pays zero to fund firefighters, teachers, public roads, etc... AOC is either a pathological liar or an imbecile, because there are taxes besides federal income taxes and Amazon paid over $1,200,000,000.00 in taxes inside the US last year. Her zero numbers are pure BS.
Also the 25,000 employees in NYC would have been paying taxes.
AOC said the $3 Billion was a special backroom deal...which is BS from this BSer. The vast majority came from policies that are years old and apply to any company.
She should attack those policies honestly not use BS in a way that confuses the masses.
The article noted that Amazon wanted it to indeed be a back room deal. Local politicians did not want it to be and that was a reason Amazon packed up.
How is the government favoring one business over another Capitalism? I'll not argue that a larger company buying 200 copiers less expensive than a business buying one can be, but we are talking the government picking favorites.
Subsidized mailing costs. That's Socialism. It is even favoring Chinese companies shipping for Amazon over the American companies that are subsidizing the costs.
I used to sell a bit on the internet. It would cost me more to send a package to the next state than a company selling on Amazon out of China could send the same item to that state.
I'm not an ideological purist. I consider myself more pragmatic. I would also say that, thankfully, few "Capitalist" societies actually practice pure "laissez-faire capitalism".
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