Amazon HQ2. Where does it end up?

In reply to xflowgolf :

Bezos also owns The Washington Post, which supposedly already has some pull and influence in political circles. I read an article recently that theorized Bezos buying the WaPo was planned in advance to smooth mergers and envoke influence on policy. The main support for that theory was Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, which occurred just a few months after the WaPo purchase and sped through the regulatory checks in record time compared to the average corporate takeover. 

That might be a bit of a stretch, but it's not the craziest thing I've heard either. On one hand, that would mean Amazon may already wield a ton of political power in DC so they don't need to locate HQ2 there, but it's easy to see how moving there could give them an even stronger foothold. Having 50,000 employees in a city will give them tremendous pull wherever they land though.

bmw88rider said:

NYC and DC really don't help them answer the question of affordable housing for their workers. The cost of living in Seattle is the whole reason I'm not working for AWS right now. It would have been a 20-30K realistic pay cut to move there from Austin. 100K in either NYC or DC only gets you a long commute. 

100k goes a Long way and gets you in a very comfortable position here in the Indy area....

A whimsical take on the move.

lived in Charleston in the 70’s    Beautiful place   Not so much anymore

Dc or Atlanta.  Pretty clear now. 

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Dc or Atlanta.  Pretty clear now. 

Oh bugger I better get into my new apartment real soon. 

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Dc or Atlanta.  Pretty clear now. 

Based on what we know about incentives, or something else?

Apparently 45's vendetta against Amazon may be making the Toronto bid more and more plausible. We'll see what happens.

Here's an interesting new tidbit of information to consider: Amazon has demonstrated an irrational aversion to paying taxes. Most tech megacorps aren't quite so averse to local taxes. So they might be genuinely after a "how low can you go" contest on taxes, and we've probably been underestimating the advantage of the lower-tax jurisdictions. It's hard to imagine this same company ever setting up in Toronto now.

They can stay away from here. I'm good with that. 

SC would gladly welcome them with open arms in low taxes and low wages. 

When a new company moves in they usually have an agreement to pay a set amount in lieu of taxes for a given amount of time.

They just announced another sorting facility here in Columbus, another 1500 Amazon jobs here.

I'm starting to come around on the HQ2. I know we're a long shot, but it's hard not to daydream about 50k more high paying jobs here. I might feel differently if I wasn't already a property owner though!!!

In reply to Sine_Qua_Non :

Not a place tech workers want to live. 

Last speculation I saw was DC, taking over the lot the abandoned hospital that has become a homeless shelter.

Having HQ 2.0 right near where they lobby makes sense.

In reply to z31maniac :

Well... at least the housing and general cost-of-living will be similar to what they're used to in Seattle... 

A number of my cycling friends live in the DC area. It's definitely great for an active lifestyle, but at the same time all of my friends can't wait to get away from the area.  A few already have, moving to Colorado, Montana and Idaho.

But if tax breaks are needed to entice them to choose, I can't imagine VA or MD offering much.  They simply don't have the need.

Looks like Seattle just passed the head tax. I wonder if that's going to affect anything.

Another tidbit to help narrow your guesses: Amazon wants to set up in a major city. Arlington was too much of a "flyover" city for them apparently:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/16/technology/amazon-hq2-arlington-texas/index.html

What they didn't decide yet?!?! I think the cities in the running should just agree to remove all tax breaks from their negotiations with Amazon and just tell them to choose already. How much city/county/state funding is going into all of these efforts to get a company to use your city and not pay you for what they take?

The0retical said:

Looks like Seattle just passed the head tax. I wonder if that's going to affect anything.

I had read that Amazon had stopped all construction in Seattle pending the outcome, but haven't been following it. I have to wonder if their new location is going to end up bigger than it was originally planned. 

This seem relevant. 

“We are disappointed by today’s City Council decision,” Amazon vice president Drew Herdener said in a statement. “We remain very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here.​​​​​​​"

In reply to Toyman01 :

It's not even really that much honestly. I think they were talking $500 per person and it ended up being $275. Yes it cuts a little bit for businesses doing over $20MM in revenue but there's no income tax up there and Amazon gets a ton of incentives.

We're literally talking a .9% increase in taxes on their profits not their revenues. (Assumes $50 million in new taxes and Amazon had a profit of $5.6 billion last year). It's a bit of money but still below the EIT where I live in PA (1%) and well below the state income tax threshold (3.07%). Oh plus I get to pay Plainfield Township $50 for the privilege of working.

Still less than the 11% I was paying to live in California though.

Point being, a business should be part of the greater community, not just leeching off it until it's time to move on.

In reply to The0retical :

I completely agree, business should be paying their "fair share" and not expect massive tax breaks just because. I for one hope that Nashville doesn't get it, it's already Atlanta Light.  It would be interesting if all the cities pulled their incentives, that would be fun to watch.

I guess my question is why should the business pay any taxes beyond income taxes.

If your city decided to charge a head tax on people living in your household, would that be a problem? Would you still live there or would you look into moving. That's pretty much what Seattle has done. Personally, I'd be looking to move. If the city my office is in decided to do that, I would move immediately. 

Since Amazon is already considering a new location, I can see them expanding it even more than already planned, just to stop any expansion of their Seattle offices. 

If I was a city/state looking to expand my taxable income by billions. I'd be on the horn to Amazon now letting them know that a head tax would never happen. 

Looks like they are building something in Spokane, not HQ2, but possibly a sorting facility.

Same day delivery would be kinda sweet