The desperate courting efforts made by cities across the US and Canada to land Amazon’s new headquarters have gone from charming, to weird, to straight up bribery.
There have been 238 proposals since the announcement was made in early September, and with Amazon’s promise to create 50k high-paying jobs wherever it lands next, some cities are taking things wayyy too far…
Take Chicago for instance
The windy city is so set on getting the new HQ2 that they have proposed a major tax break to the company, essentially allowing Amazon to keep $1.32B of personal income taxes paid by their employees. That’s money that should be funding public schools and fixing potholes.
Worse, according to the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky, this Amazon tax break could spell a tax hike for the people of Chicago if they win the bid.
And they’re not the only ones checking their dignity at the door
Here are some other hail marys to get into Amazon’s pants:
- Newark, NJ offered a tax break of $7B
- Chula Vista, CA offered an 85-acre plot of land valued at $100m and a $300m tax break
- Stonecrest, GA offered 345 acres of land renamed, ‘the city of Amazon’
It’s like the movie Rat Race. Only in this version, Mr. Bean dangling from a hot air balloon in hopes of winning his fortune is a lot less funny.
