Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think
- Amazon will receive more than $2 billion in incentives from the two states.
- The company plans to create a total of 50,000 jobs at an average wage of $150,000.
- The announcement has caused controversy, raising concerns about rising rent prices and potentially lost resources in communities surrounding the upcoming developments.
Amazon announced Tuesday its plans to split its second headquarters between New York City and Northern Virginia, ending a year-long competition in which more than 230 cities offered billions in incentives for a chance to host the retail giant.
One part of the headquarters will be built in Long Island City in Queens, the other in Arlington, located in the metro area of Washington, D.C. Amazon will invest $5 billion across the new offices and will eventually hire more than 25,000 employees at each location.
Amazon said the average wage of jobs at both new offices will be $150,000.
The company plans to receive $1.525 billion in incentives for its New York City headquarters, and $573 million in incentives for its Arlington offices. Those incentives come mostly in the form of tax breaks. In other words, New York will effectively pay $48,000 for each job created over 10 years, while Virginia will pay $22,000 for each job created over 12 years.
Amazon estimates these tax breaks will be offset by tax revenue generated from its new offices during those same periods: $10 billion in New York and $3.2 billion in Virginia.
The two new offices will supplement Amazon’s existing headquarters in Seattle.
On Tuesday, Amazon also announced the upcoming opening of an operations center in Nashville that will hire about 5,000 employees.Mixed reactions
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia said Amazon’s move was a “big win” for the state, adding that the partnership would include “investments in our…
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