Show CaptionDespite $18 per hour and benefits package, Amazon has an image problem.Amazon and its subsidiaries have reaped billions of dollars in state, county and local incentives over the years nationwide in return for having a presence in a community.
“They’re coming anyway,” he said. “They want to be everywhere. They need to be closer to the customer. Amazon is trying to cover the whole country with an enormous distribution network. There is no reason to entice them. They should be paying communities” for the opportunity to open their distribution centers in a particular market.
No economic incentive money was required when Amazon opened its first logistics facility in Volusia County three years ago — a 66,000-square-foot “last-mile” delivery station in Daytona Beach. “They employed a thousand workers within just months of opening and are now over 1,500,” said Bradford, who represents the district that includes Amazon’s Deltona facility. “They’ve also increased their starting pay to $18 an hour.”
“If you look around, we have development all around the area,” Bradford said. “We’ve got restaurants and plazas and multifamily housing” being built or in the works, she said. “Amazon pays their taxes to the county, and the city gets a percentage back,” said Bradford, who added that the investment in the form of incentives to the company will continue to reap dividends for the city for many years to come.
As part of the deal, Amazon agreed to start paying state sales taxes on internet purchases made by Florida customers, but Scott viewed that commitment as a tax increase on residents. The governor — who now is a U.S. senator representing Florida — later changed his mind on the incentives, giving no clear reason for reversing course.
Industrial Development Agency officials argued that the tax breaks are worth it, considering the future jobs Amazon will create in the county, as well as added state, county, town and school taxes the project will generate on formerly undeveloped land.
And?
Bull shit. They aren’t hiring so they can make more.
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Source: Florida Times-Union - 🏆 600. / 51 Read more »