Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
If the numbers claimed by Amazon are correct (average job pays $150,000) then the payback per job (for NYC taxes only, ignoring NY state taxes) is 11 years.
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New York City needs to consider that if they give billions to Amazon, other companies that would otherwise expand in the City, without being bribed, will now demand the Amazon treatment. The fact that New York gave the $3 billion offer and was turned down will thus, perhaps in a way impossible to quantify, harm the city's economy.
When a big company demands money from a small town with hardly any current non-local employers, such moral hazard isn't a consideration -- since no big outside employee will add jobs without being bribed. But for New York City, the calculation is different. I'm not saying it's right for the small town to bribe an employer to come to town, but it makes more sense than it does when you already are perceived as a desirable location.
If I lived in NYC, I would have been against bribing Amazon. But once the bribe was accepted, I'd figure it made even less sense to back out.