“A $2 Billion Question: Did New York and Virginia Overpay for Amazon?” (nytimes):
Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended the deal, arguing that New York has to offer incentives because of its comparatively high taxes. At 6.5 percent, New York’s corporate income-tax rate is only modestly higher than Virginia’s 6 percent, according to the Tax Foundation. But other business and individual taxes are higher in New York.
“It’s not a level playing field to begin with,” Mr. Cuomo said in an interview Tuesday. “All things being equal, if we do nothing, they’re going to Texas.”
In the history of the U.S., how many times has a governor admitted that, absent special treatment, a company would be better off locating in a different state?
[Separately, any family court plaintiff suing an Amazon worker will be very grateful that the company didn’t move everyone into Texas, where the profitability of a child is capped at about $20,000 per year and “lifetime alimony” typically turns into “no alimony”.]
Related:
Phil: If I remember real world divorce correctly, family court plantiffs typically don’t experience any gratitude. Rather, they are likely upset with Mr. Bezos for not locating the HQ2 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
> “It’s not a level playing field to begin with,” Mr. Cuomo …
This also means that Mr. Cuomo is admitting that if you are a small to medium size business owners you don’t matter.