Ira Stoll on New York’s Corporate Welfare Handouts

For many Americans, the holiday season means
gift-wrapped packages arriving from Amazon.com. But for
long-suffering New York taxpayers, writes Ira Stoll, this year the
giving is going in the opposite direction. The state is giving the
Seattle-based online retailer $5 million in tax credits “to help
lure” an Amazon office with 500 jobs to midtown Manhattan. What’s
more, that $5 million is in addition to $2 million in New York
state tax credits already awarded to Amazon for a Brooklyn
fashion-photo studio. And it raises some issues that come up
whenever government at any level decides to reward a business with
special tax treatment.

View this article.