Date: March 27, 2019
Contact: mediacenter@freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org

AMAZON UP TO SAME OLD TRICKS IN WISCONSIN TO WIN TAXPAYER DOLLARS

Shot: Amazon strong-armed state lawmakers into promising $7.5 million in tax giveaways for new Wisconsin facility…

“Amazon.com Inc.’s new distribution center under development in Oak Creek will receive up to $7.5 million in state tax credits.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Amazon’s new Oak Creek distribution center will get $7.5 million in state credits — if it creates 1,500 jobs,” Tom Daykin, 3.25.19)

Chaser: …even after Amazon just bolted from New York City for HQ2 after it decided it did not like the terms of agreement, and is setting itself up to be the state’s next Foxconn.  

“Amazon will walk away from the largest and most public subsidy auction in history with relatively few giveaways to show for it. The company announced on Thursday that it had canceled plans for a new headquarters in Long Island City, for which New York State had offered nearly $3 billion…Combine the Amazon news with growing criticism of Wisconsin’s $4 billion incentive deal with the electronics maker Foxconn, and this begins to look like a possible turning point in the debate over tax incentives. (The New York Times, “In the End, Amazon Didn’t Win Its Own Subsidy Game,” Emily Badger, 2.14.19)

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