Some of the highest-reported incentive offers from U.S. cities trying to lure Amazon’s fabled HQ2 cost nearly as much as Louisiana’s entire general fund state budget.
A collection of some of the available details on such proposals, put together by Business Insider, shows a willingness among state and local leaders throughout the country to give away billions of dollars to the tech giant. The return, in the form of the company’s second headquarters, is roughly 50,000 jobs and a $5 billion construction investment.
Newark, New Jersey, thus far has offered the highest known figure for the company to locate there—an astounding $7 billion in tax incentives.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the city landed on Amazon’s list of 20 finalists, released today after being pared down from 238 proposals.
Montgomery County, Maryland, reportedly offered $5 billion to Amazon. Columbus, Ohio, put up $2.3 billion. The company would likely get up to $3 billion from Philadelphia, and $1.32 billion in would-be income taxes from the firm’s workers if it locates to Chicago.
All of those places landed on Amazon’s top 20 list.
Atlanta’s offer—$1 billion—is smaller than some of the big-ticket offers from states and cities. But, to put it into perspective, that amount would virtually solve Louisiana’s short-term budget crisis, which has dominated the conversation around state government for several years running. Atlanta also made the list released today.
Only a handful of southern cities made Amazon’s list, including Dallas, Austin and Nashville. Absent from the list of contenders was any city from Louisiana.
