Date: December 19, 2018
Contact: mediacenter@freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org
NYC Council Speaker: Why Does A $1 Trillion Company Need $3 Billion In Taxpayer Dollars?
Glaring needs of New Yorkers being ignored to funnel tax giveaways to Amazon
New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson: Amazon is a $1 trillion company. Is that accurate? You’re approximately valued at a trillion dollars?
Amazon Vice President of Public Policy Brian Huseman: “I think it’s close to that, yeah.”
Corey Johnson: Close to that. So why should we give you this money?
Brian Huseman: “So these incentives, they’re performance based, which means that we will not receive any money until we create jobs and make these investments-”
Corey Johnson:“But you’re worth a trillion dollars. Why do you need our $3 billion when we have crumbling subways, crumbling public housing, people without healthcare, public schools that are overcrowding? Why do you need our $3 billion?” (The New York City Council, “Oversight – Amazon HQ2 Oversight – Stage 1: Exposing the Closed-Door Process,” 12.12.18)
To watch the full clip, click here.
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The Free & Fair Markets Initiative (FFMI) is a non-profit coalition of businesses, consumer advocacy groups, workers and community activists committed to scrutinizing and highlighting emerging market trends that are stifling competition and innovation, influencing federal and local government spending, putting consumer data in harm’s way and limiting consumer choice. For a list of members, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org/about-us/members/. For more information on the Free & Fair Markets Initiative, please visit https://freeandfairmarketsinitiative.org.
