Amazon's search for a second headquarters has almost two dozen cities competing with each other to offer the greatest tax incentive, drawing the ire of conservatives and liberals.
The conservative Koch brothers, through their millennial-targeting group Generation Opportunity, have begun a digital ad campaign comparing the fight to host Amazon's new HQ to a "'Hunger Games'-style competition."
"Amazon is one of the largest, most successful corporations in the world — it doesn't need help from struggling taxpayers to build its second headquarters," GO Policy Director David Barnes said in a statement. "Unfair corporate welfare deals like the ones being lobbed at Amazon fuel cronyism, are conducted in darkness, and force small businesses to subsidize their competition."
Richard Florida, a prominent figure in urban studies, launched a petition along with several dozen urban scholars and economists urging the politicians and officials of the finalist cities to "forge and sign a mutual non-aggression pact that rejects such egregious tax giveaways and direct monetary incentives for the Amazon headquarters."
"I didn't expect to ever write a protest letter," said Florida, a member of the group that backed Toronto's bid, to The Guardian. "But one weekend I was so mad, I started emailing my friends across the ideological spectrum, and every one of them said they'd sign on in a minute."
Florida described the billions in tax incentives proposed by New Jersey, Maryland and other states as "obscene."
"Jeff Bezos personally has more money than the district's budget," said Fair Budget Coalition co-director, Monica Kamen. "Are we going to give the richest man in history a tax break before we make sure that homeless children have a place to sleep?"
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