Amazon Requests $152 Million in Incentives from Virginia for New HQ2 Campus

Amazon warehouse

Amazon applied for economic development incentives from Virginia for its new HQ2 campus in Arlington, requesting the state pay $152 million to the company by 2026. 

Arlington was chosen as the site for Amazon’s second quarters four years ago – a move the company said would bring 25,000 jobs to the area by 2030. The tech giant has roughly 8,400 employees assigned to HQ2, and the average wage of these jobs must meet or exceed $156,800, according to Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lightly.

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Virginia Residents Plan Demonstration to Stop Arlington’s Planned $23M Tax Break for Amazon Headquarters

The backlash that prompted Amazon to discard its New York HQ2 headquarters plans like a rotten apple has emboldened critics of the tax deals being offered for the Virginia headquarters site. Amazon’s New York announcement, ironically made on Valentine’s Day, showed there was no love lost between the e-retailer and politicians and activists who bemoaned nearly $3 billion in tax incentives for the firm, The Tennessee Star reported. Amazon promised 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion investment in offices. Amazon said it still planned to build an operations center in Nashville. The company was promised $15 million from the City of Nashville and up to $102 million from the state for 5,000 jobs. Now some in Virginia are setting their sights on what they say is not a Prime deal. Roshan Abraham, with Our Revolution Arlington, one of several anti-tax-incentive groups in Virginia, said the Arlington County government should vote down the $23 million tax deal being offered to the world’s largest e-retailer, according to a story by Washington Business Journal. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a deal to give Amazon up to $550 million to create 25,000 jobs or $750 million for 37,850 jobs, the Journal said. Virginia critics also…

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Cities Reveal Insane Offers They Made in Bid for Amazon HQ

by Evie Fordham   Amazon announced its decision Tuesday to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia, but by picking those locations the corporation gave up some pretty sweet deals — and unusual offers — from other cities and states. Amazon will get incentives packages of more than $1.5 billion for bringing jobs to New York and more than $570 million for bringing jobs to Virginia, according to a Tuesday press release. Amazon bypassed big offers from Maryland and New Jersey, which put together incentives packages of $6.5 billion and $7 billion, respectively, according to The Baltimore Sun. But other states came up with offers that included deal-sweeteners other than infrastructure investments and tax credits proportional to jobs created. Here are a few of them: Georgia The Peach State had a long list it was willing to do to convince Amazon to build HQ2 in Atlanta. Georgia’s full package, which totaled more than $2 billion, was released for the first time Tuesday evening, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That package included “Amazon Academy of Georgia,” a state-provided space near or on Amazon’s campus to trains its employees, according to a March 5 document. The state was willing to pay…

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Amazon’s $100 Million-Plus Tennessee Tax Incentives Deal ‘Unfair and Immoral,’ Beacon Center Says

The State of Tennessee’s and Metro Nashville’s $102 million taxpayer gift to Amazon is not a Prime deal, a public watchdog organization says. Amazon turned down Nashville for its coveted two new headquarters sites, called HQ2, but Nashville landed a $230 million operations center near downtown in the future Nashville Yards. For more on Amazon’s Nashville announcement, see this story in The Tennessee Star. Mark Cunningham, vice president of communications and outreach at the Beacon Center of Tennessee, criticized the deal. The center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing empirical research and free market solutions for Tennesseans. Cunningham said, “Nashville was passed over for Amazon’s second (and third) headquarters, yet city and state officials still got scammed into giving the company more than $100 million in taxpayer giveaways for a consolation prize, which includes $80 million in cash handouts. Amazon, one of the world’s most valuable companies, and the government played taxpayers with this incentive deal, and it is time for us to speak up against this type of corporate welfare. While we welcome new businesses and the jobs they create to our state, forcing middle-class Tennesseans and small businesses to give their hard-earned dollars to a multi-billion dollar business is both unfair and immoral.” Rick Manning,…

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