Governor Announces New Amazon Campus in New York City

November 19th, 2018

Last Tuesday, Gov. Cuomo announced that Amazon will establish a new corporate headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, where it expects to eventually employ at least 25,000 people. Amazon is promising to invest $2.5 billion in Long Island City in the coming decade, and up to $3.6 billion when ancillary community projects are counted over 15 years. (Amazon also announced this week that it will build a similar facility in Virginia.)

The state will provide Amazon with up to $1.2 billion in Excelsior tax credits — $1.7 billion, if the company creates 40,000 jobs, plus $505 million in capital grants to repay Amazon’s construction costs over 15 years.  In addition, the company will be eligible for New York City business income-tax credits worth $897 million and a property-tax break worth $386 million over 25 years. (Read the Memorandum of Understanding between the city, state and Amazon here.)

The Governor defended the size of the incentive package, saying that the economic benefits of bringing 25,000 jobs to Queens will far outweigh the cost of the grants and tax breaks. His office estimates that the development will provide a revenue boost of $27.5 billion total for the state and city over the next 25 years.

In the wake of the announcement, a number of elected officials from the area have expressed concern about the community impacts and the size of the state and city incentives.

The state providing billions of dollars to incentivize one of the world’s most valuable companies to invest in our state is an acknowledgment that our taxes are just too high.  We want to know:  now that the state has taken steps to lower taxes and improve the business climate for Amazon, what is the state planning to do for the rest of us?

Or will our existing businesses effective pay a penalty – having to subsidize Amazon, even as they try to survive in what has long been acknowledged as one of the most difficult places in the nation for a business to operate.