New Jersey Offers $7 Billion in Incentives to Lure Amazon to Newark
October 16 2017 - 9:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Keiko Morris and Mike Vilensky
New Jersey is making a high-dollar pitch for Newark as
Amazon.com Inc.'s second headquarters, offering up to $7 billion in
state and city tax incentives.
Republican Gov. Chris Christie joined Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
and Sen. Cory Booker, both Democrats, in Newark on Monday to tout
the city's progress in the past decade and highlight its
transportation options, educational institutions, technology
infrastructure and businesses that have made Newark home.
In September Amazon said it would find a second corporate
headquarters in North America and solicit proposals from cities
around the country. That set off a nationwide competition among
municipal leaders to land the company's new home, which could
create up to 50,000 jobs. Initial proposals are due Thursday.
New Jersey is offering Amazon $5 billion in tax incentives over
the next 10 years and upon the creation of 50,000 jobs, Mr.
Christie said. In addition, Newark is offering a property-tax
abatement potentially worth $1 billion and another $1 billion that
Amazon's new Newark workers would gain over 20 years from the city
waiving its local wage tax, the governor said.
"Let any state go and try to beat that package along with what
we have offered here in Newark," Mr. Christie said.
In New York, meanwhile, business leaders on Monday urged Amazon
to put its next headquarters somewhere in the five boroughs, even
as the city's liberal advocacy groups came out against tax
incentives to lure the giant online retailer.
The Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit promoting
economic-development, sent a letter to Amazon touting the city's
benefits. The letter was also provided to New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats.
The letter lists data showing the city's high number of college
and professional-school graduates, universities and high-earning
companies. "[New York City] features unparalleled diversity of
industry talent and institutional resources," it said.
The chairman of IAC and the chief executives of Citigroup Inc.
and Morgan Stanley are among the dozens of signatories from the
city's business world.
Not everyone in New York City is as enthusiastic about the idea.
Advocacy groups wrote a letter to Messrs. de Blasio and Cuomo
raising concerns about wooing Amazon.
"You should focus on pushing Amazon to be a better corporate
citizen and improving how it treats workers," the letter said. "You
should also...work to ensure that this multibillion-dollar company
does not receive financial incentives simply for doing business
here."
Signatories on that letter included many of the mayor's
political allies, including the public-education group Alliance for
Quality Education, the immigrant-advocacy group Make the Road New
York, and the Association for Neighborhood and Housing
Development.
A spokesperson for Amazon didn't comment.
Write to Keiko Morris at Keiko.Morris@wsj.com and Mike Vilensky
at mike.vilensky@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 16, 2017 20:45 ET (00:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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