What larger government was involved? Enlighten me.
Of course they have the right to say no. I just don't see a downside to it.
I don't get the idiotic economics major who thinks 3 billion in tax incentives that haven't been collected
yet would be "better spent" elsewhere. It's taxes they wouldn't have to pay - there's no money there.
In exchange they bring high-paying jobs, additional construction jobs, more tax revenue down the line,
an additional 15,000 jobs later on, and the addition of new jobs in the region around the hq.
TRYING to see why it would be bad. Other cities are salivating over the chance.
Larger governments? As I mentioned, Albany and Manhattan. This is Queens borough government saying, "No. We know better than you as to what our community needs are."
As to your other point, I'm assuming neither of us live in Queens so how would we purport to know what the upside and downside is to the people who live there?
I don't think it is bad per se. But if the people who actually live in Queens think it is, then I'm willing to give deference to their will since I don't really have a dog in the fight. I agree with your comment about this 3 billion not having been collected yet, so the notion of spending elsewhere instead is a fallacious argument. But the point is, if Amazon wants to be here, let them spend their money to make it happen. There will always be work a city has to do to prepare for the arrival of large companies like this. A story broke yesterday that Amazon paid zero taxes on some largish profit. Good for them I say! They pursue an aggressive strategy of rolling over their profits into new business lines, so since this is business expansion just let them have at it without asking for government assistance.
This subsidy thing happens all the time. It's de rigueur to the point where no one questions it. If there weren't subsidies involved, chances are local Queens government would have been more involved in securing this deal and would be more reflective of what the people who live and work there want and not reflect the whims of Albany and the politicians there lining their pockets for a chance to subsidize a large corporation. I remember a time when deals like this used to raise the ire of small government conservatives.
