Economists worry that the tax incentive competition solicited by Amazon for HQ2 will divert taxpayer funds from education, infrastructure, and other priorities
When New Jersey announced a $7 billion package of tax incentives to try to lure Amazon's second headquarters to Newark … Tweets: @richard_florida , @bencasselman , @whitenjon , @bytimlogan , and @stacyfmitchell Tweets: Richard Florida / @richard_florida : #AmazonHQ2 is setting back the practice of economic development by decades. And the real tragedy is that this is being driven mainly by progressive Democrat mayors who know better. http://twitter.com/... Ben Casselman / @bencasselman : U.S. cities and states finally seemed to be learning the lesson that tax incentives aren't good economic-development policy. Then Amazon HQ2 came along. http://www.nytimes.com/... http://twitter.com/... Jon Whiten / @whitenjon : “The stakes are getting higher and the deals are getting worse for the taxpayer.” @amy_liuw on a national trend that mirrors what we've seen over recent years in NJ. Overall, this is a must-read piece by @bencasselman on the #AmazonHQ2 begging war. http://twitter.com/... Tim Logan / @bytimlogan : Good read on the incentive wars brewing over #AmazonHQ2. One quibble, the billions (with a B) will mostly come from states, not cities. http://twitter.com/... Stacy Mitchell / @stacyfmitchell : “There are no incentives for those of us who are already here,” — hardware store owner who's grown to 12 locations & is now watching her city propose to hand big subsidies to Amazon. http://twitter.com/...