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NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

fox5ny.com

221–230 of 359 posts

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you measure progress? For the past decade, we've severely deteriorated as a society - Yet politicians will call it progress. Citation? By most metrics we've improved as a society in the last 10 years.

>> Citation? Donald Trump, Brexit, Facebook, opioids epidemic, cryptocurrencies, increased rents, soul-crushing corporate jobs for all.

How exactly is this different from a broader practical standpoint than Bush, the war on terror, reality tv, heroin and crack epidemics, the dotcom bubble, increased rents along side decaying cities, endless suburban sprawl with no major transportation projects being taken seriously, and as always, soul-crushing corporate jobs where before you also had to wear a tie everyday.

The world moves forward just fine, and there hasn't really been many differences between America today and America in the 80s from a broader political standpoint. Maybe our country was a better place when unions mattered and the wealthy had a legitimate fear of a socialist revolution should concessions to the middle class not be made, but the fall of the soviet union in many ways put that fear to rest.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#222
post #217

The article is very disingenuous about this being a "cost" to tax payers. It's a tax break, it's not extra money that's going to be added to NY's tax bill, it's taxes that Amazon theoretically would have had to pay if they decided to build their offices there and didn't have the tax break. There are some other real costs to tax payers in the form of subsidies, but they're much smaller than the 1.5 billion figure quot…

Ok, we replaced "taxpayers to pay" with "state tax break" above.

If you're going to ban me permanently, I believe it would be fair to vouch my replies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18454702

I'm sorry things have deteriorated between us to this point, but you have been acting strangely and using your position in ways that do not fit the whole point of HN, which is pursuit of intellectual gratification. Someone had to call you on it. And predictably, you are now trying to frame me as if I have harassed you, when I merely mocked you.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#223
post #32

1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their progress before any award is given. 2) The city-level incentives are available to any business. State-level incentives (I think 300m) are not. 3) Amazon has pledged to invest in the local community as part of the deal. There are plans for an elementary school and te…

Ahem: https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/17/h-1b-foreign-citizens... "About 71 percent of tech employees in the Valley are foreign born, compared to around 50 percent in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward region, according to a new report based on 2016 census data."

Yeah, the appeal to diversity is strange since if you're into quotas and metrics, it's south and east Asians who are overrepresented in tech, not "majorities".

Implicit in the appeals to diversity is that women and non-Asian minorities are mostly the target as far as increased representation.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Regardless, the gov should not be in the job buying biz Says you. I think they do a better job buying that biz than many of the other biz's they buy with public funds. If you want to see pockets being lined, look to things that don't have returns on investment or are poorly managed in real corrupt ways (ala many public pension plans). Not comparing dollar spent to dollar spent of tax money compared to benefits make…

Just because there are other and potentially better/easier ways to graft and siphon money out of the system (such as those you listed) doesn't mean that this person isn't allowed to think this 'lesser' one is just as morally bankrupt and from a business standpoint a foolish decision.

Agree and I usually try to stay on point and not whataboutist, but I had to address general comments about use of funds and role of government in parent and ggp.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#225
post #113
post #32

1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their progress before any award is given. 2) The city-level incentives are available to any business. State-level incentives (I think 300m) are not. 3) Amazon has pledged to invest in the local community as part of the deal. There are plans for an elementary school and te…

Tech hasn't been kind to Seattle or SF. Maybe to the people attracted likely to be filling this jobs, but not to the people in the surrounding areas. LIC was mostly warehouses at one point and you're right a lot of the new units are housing for people moving away from Manhattan. But the concern is not just about LIC; it's about Corona, Astoria, Jackson Heights. These are areas with a lot of immigrant communities, com…

No, NIMBYs haven't been kind to Seattle or SF. You are attributing the unkindness to the symptom, not the problem.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#226
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fair, but how much of that will go towards compensating people who will be driven out of north/west Queens and north Brooklyn as a result of rising rents?

Just let people build more housing so rents don't rise.

Housing is going up like crazy in New York, it's just not affordable.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some of their elected officials are opposed to Amazon moving in The opposition to an almost-done deal is almost always louder than the support. Supporters want to keep the status quo , i.e. the deal closing. Opposers want to stop it. I think this is a good deal. I prefer having Amazon in New York, and I prefer the billions of extra tax dollars they're going to pay New York City and Albany versus potentially losing…

Probably the best way to gauge the support/opposition was to put this deal into a city-wide referendum to begin with.

How'd that work out in the case of Brexit? Direct democracy is not really the best way to govern.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#228
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They elected the people that made that decision. If they don't like it, they can vote them out. Citing an example of some Berliner NIMBYs is not really helping your argument.

Conflating leftist anti-gentrification activists with property owners worried about their property value all under the label "NIMBY"...it's unhelpful in understanding the world.

NIMBY = Not In My BackYard. I'd say it's a pretty accurate description of both groups.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#229
post #32

1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their progress before any award is given. 2) The city-level incentives are available to any business. State-level incentives (I think 300m) are not. 3) Amazon has pledged to invest in the local community as part of the deal. There are plans for an elementary school and te…

"Please tell me what about this is bad."

A trillion dollar company does not need subsidies.

Re: NY state tax break is $48k per Amazon HQ job

#230
post #32

1) Incentives are not given up front. They are given proportional to the results Amazon has achieved. Amazon must make a report each year detailing their progress before any award is given. 2) The city-level incentives are available to any business. State-level incentives (I think 300m) are not. 3) Amazon has pledged to invest in the local community as part of the deal. There are plans for an elementary school and te…

3) why is this left to Amazon or am I misunderstanding how this is managed?
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