FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2018, file photo protesters carry anti-Amazon posters during a coalition rally and press conference opposing Amazon headquarters getting subsidies to locate in the New York neighborhood of Long Island City in the Queens borough of New York. Some residents wondered why one of the world's most valuable companies needed nearly $3 million in tax incentives to come to New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
Just as New Yorkers were absorbing Amazon.com Inc’s decision to abandon a new office hub after tangling over US$3bil (RM12.24bil) in tax breaks, General Electric Co was beating a retreat in Boston, cancelling plans to build an office tower and promising to return US$87mil (RM355.17mil) in government incentives. In Wisconsin, Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn was backing away from promises it made in exchange for billions in incentives.
Stoked by Amazon’s decision to turn its search for a new office hub into a nationwide reality show, a long-simmering backlash to corporate subsidies is coming to a boil. US state legislators in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York are targeting subsidies to individual companies. At the federal level, Senator Bernie Sanders last year introduced a bill that would tax Amazon, Walmart Inc and other big employers whose workers collect public assistance.
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