Cities are throwing hundreds of millions at Amazon to land HQ2 — here’s how they stack up

Jeff Bezos

Amazon revealed the top contenders that could land its second headquarters in early 2018.
Nine of these cities are offering major economic incentives as part of their bids. Three have said they will not give Amazon any tax breaks.
Out of all of these metros, Montgomery, Maryland is proposing the largest incentive package valued at $8.5 billion.

In January, Amazon named 20 North American cities as the top contenders for the future home of the company's second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. The company says HQ2 will bring 50,000 jobs, and late last year launched an open call for city proposals that explain why the e-commerce giant should invest $5 billion in building a campus there.

In addition to offering huge swaths of land, financial incentives have become key parts of bids from many of these metros. A few incentive packages offer tax breaks that total in the billions.

Amazon likely won't pick a city unless it is offering some kind of economic deal, since that was one requirement the company laid out in its request. When Amazon has opened facilities or office spaces in other cities across the US, it has often accepted local subsidies.

From 2005 to 2014, the company received at least $613 million in local government subsidies to build warehouses, according to a 2016 report by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. The group, which pushes for local resources to be dedicated to community development, also found that Amazon received an additional $147 million in subsidies for its data centers.

It's not unusual for large companies to receive government subsidies in return for pledging to increase jobs and economic prosperity in the region (although, that doesn't always happen).

Here are the nine places that have made their HQ2 incentive packages public, in ascending order of monetary value.

9. Raleigh, North Carolina — over $50 million

For HQ2, North Carolina is amping up its main economic incentives program for businesses, known as the Job Development Investment Grant.

Amazon could be reimbursed for up to 100% of the withholding taxes from the new jobs it creates for up to 25 years, The News & Observer reports.

The company would also receive up to $50 million for HQ2's infrastructure like water, sewer and rail access, with the money coming from a reserve account of $80 million in the state’s general fund.

In addition, another program called the One North Carolina Fund could award up to $5,000 per year, per job, for up to five years.

8. Denver, Colorado — $100 million or more

According to The Denver Post, Colorado's proposal named some possible incentives, including the job growth tax credit; job training grants of up to $1,200 per employee; enterprise zone program offering income-tax credits for companies locating in distressed areas; in-state tuition benefits for employees; and local city incentives that every community "under consideration has developed a custom incentive package … to support the build-out of Amazon HQ2."

In an interview with The Post, Sam Bailey, Metro Denver EDC’s vice president of economic development, said incentives could be "in excess of $100 million."

7. Los Angeles, California — $300 million to $1 billion

California's governor's office will offer $300 million to Amazon in tax breaks if it picks a city in the state, Reuters reports. The company listed Los Angeles in the top 20.

But a bill introduced last year in California's state assembly could give the company even more — up to $1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider