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Nov 14, 2018
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Amazon to get billions in breaks for HQ2 development

By
Reuters
Published
Nov 14, 2018

Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it had split its $5 billion second headquarters into two projects that would be located in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City’s Queens borough and a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, DC.


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Each would have up to 25,000 jobs and Amazon will create a new facility in Nashville with 5,000 jobs.
The retailer said it will get billions of dollars as direct incentives from the three selected cities, contingent to creating a specific number of jobs.

Below is the break-down of incentives the selected cities are offering the online retail giant:

NEW YORK CITY: Total Incentive - $1.525 billion

This includes a refundable tax credit through the state’s Excelsior Program of up to $1.2 billion - $48,000 per job for 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000.

A cash grant from Empire State Development of $325 million.

The incentives will flow over the next decade as Amazon creates more jobs and occupies more buildings.

Amazon can also apply for other tax incentives, including New York City’s Relocation and Employment Assistance Program that offers annual tax breaks of $3,000 per job, potentially worth $900 million over 12 years for Amazon. What benefit the company would actually get was unclear.

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA: Total Incentive - $573 million

The incentives include a cash grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia of up to $550 million, or $22,000 per job, for creating 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000 over the next 12 years.
A cash grant of $23 million over 15 years based on the incremental growth of the existing local Transient Occupancy Tax, a tax on hotel rooms.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is also investing $195 million in infrastructure in the neighborhood, including improvements to the Crystal City and the Potomac Yard Metro stations and a pedestrian bridge connecting National Landing and Reagan National Airport.

Arlington will also dedicate an estimated $28 million based on 12 percent of future property tax revenues earned from an existing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district for on-site infrastructure and open space in National Landing.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Total Incentive - up to $102 million

These include a cash grant for capital expenditures of $65 million,or $13,000 per job, for employing 5,000 people over the next seven years with an average wage of over $150,000.

A cash grant of up to $15 million, or $500 per job, from the city of Nashville over the next seven years.
A job tax credit to offset franchise and excise taxes from Tennessee of $21.7 million based on $4,500 per new job over the next seven years.

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