The Legacy of Amazon HQ2: Rebellion Against Corporate Welfare
Lasting controversy over the company’s controversial HQ2 race is changing attitudes — and regulation — around tax giveaways
Ron Kim was in complete shock. It was November 2018, and the assemblyman had just heard details of the deal which would give Amazon more than $2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies to locate part of its second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. A Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, Kim felt that giving taxpayer money to this trillion-dollar supergiant was “unfitting,” to say the least.
By inviting open bids in the search for a location for HQ2, Amazon ignited a year-long frenzy in which American cities fell over themselves to offer enormous tax breaks. In the process, Amazon didn’t just gain an enviable deal for its new headquarters — it also gained an incredible amount of corporate intelligence. “Amazon, which is a growing corporation, has now accumulated a massive database of what people were willing to offer to get a particular project,” says Steven Strauss, a professor at Princeton focusing on urban development who served as managing director of the New York City Economic Development Corporation under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
