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Amazon Pauses Huge Development Plans in Seattle Over Tax Plan

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Hawkeye10

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Amazon abruptly escalated a fight with its hometown on Wednesday, halting major expansion plans in Seattle because of a tax being considered by the City Council.

The new tax would charge large employers in the city about $500 per employee, with the money going to help alleviate a housing crisis. The tax is squarely aimed at Amazon, which is Seattle’s largest employer and frequently blamed by many residents for the city’s soaring housing costs.

The company said it would halt construction of a new building it was planning to erect downtown and reconsider occupying another that is already under construction, putting 7,000 or more jobs in jeopardy.
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The decision took city officials and developers by surprise. In a statement, Seattle’s mayor said she was alarmed by Amazon’s announcement and added that she planned to work with members of Seattle’s business, labor and community leaders in the coming days to find common ground
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/...-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

The city leaders we have are so stupid, they over years have made no effort to even hear what the large employers have to say much less care, and they have been warned for well over a year that this can not continue.

But they dont care, so we are here.

Shocked Apparently.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/...ell-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

The city leaders we have are so stupid, they over years have made no effort to even hear what the large employers have to say much less care, and they have been warned for well over a year that this can not continue.

But they dont care, so we are here.

Shocked Apparently.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, Amazon has just a day or two ago announced an expansion in Vancouver to the tune of 3,000 jobs.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/...ell-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

The city leaders we have are so stupid, they over years have made no effort to even hear what the large employers have to say much less care, and they have been warned for well over a year that this can not continue.

But they dont care, so we are here.

Shocked Apparently.
Click to expand...

Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
 
The Washington Technology Industry Association released a statement Wednesday afternoon dismissing the so-called head tax as "misguided."

"Our city already spends over $75 million on homelessness every year, yet we have nothing to show for it," said WTIA CEO Michael Schutzler in the statement. "We can properly help the homeless, but simply raising more money won't help – it takes committed, competent leadership. That has been sorely lacking for more than a decade
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Bolded Mine
https://www.seattlepi.com/business/...alts-plan-new-Seattle-towers-tax-12882234.php

Hear! Hear!
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
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You dont try to do it by ignoring Amazon and the other employers for years....that is political malpractice.

Another problem for you is that as the city has massively ramped up the amount of the citizens money they spend on this issue the problem has gotten demonstratively worse....that is not the result the citizens are investing in, this can not continue, and the people who are the reason for this failure must face consequences for their gross failure to perform.
 
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Why would anyone want to be homeless in Seattle anyway? It rains too much over there, California is better.
 
PoS said:
Why would anyone want to be homeless in Seattle anyway? It rains too much over there, California is better.
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The city chips in $75 million a year in monies ans services on top of the fed money....plus they at times get some very nice loving from Liberal Citizens, like for instance folks constantly dropping by with free food.

A little rain aint that big a thing....that is what tents are for.
 
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Hawkeye10 said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/...ell-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

The city leaders we have are so stupid, they over years have made no effort to even hear what the large employers have to say much less care, and they have been warned for well over a year that this can not continue.

But they dont care, so we are here.

Shocked Apparently.
Click to expand...



Amazon is the proverbial 500 lb. gorilla in the room that can’t be ignored. This gorilla, though, demands tax breaks and once in the room can throw their weight around at will. Which is happening in Seattle right now. Cities climb over each other to prove which can be the most stupid in giving away future” tax revenue for jobs” deals that never have been proven cost-effective. I’ve yet to see anybody come up with the financial data that shows these kinds of deals are of overall benefit to the cities that make such deals. Baltimore did so once with Amazon, and other development deals, none of which they can prove of any net benefit to the city. Baltimore, stupidly, tried for Amazon’s H2Q, too, but, luckily for their residents, missed the cut.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
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Notice that you said "federal taxes". So what about state and local taxes?

Also, $500 per person that they employ is not just "a bit". Just for the one project alone that they halted that's 7000 people. That's a tune of 3.5 million just for those employees, add on all their other employees, plus whatever they already pay in state taxes and local taxes.

What do you consider "unreasonable"?
 
bluesmoke said:
Amazon is the proverbial 500 lb. gorilla in the room that can’t be ignored. This gorilla, though, demands tax breaks and once in the room can throw their weight around at will. Which is happening in Seattle right now. Cities climb over each other to prove which can be the most stupid in giving away future” tax revenue for jobs” deals that never have been proven cost-effective. I’ve yet to see anybody come up with the financial data that shows these kinds of deals are of overall benefit to the cities that make such deals. Baltimore did so once with Amazon, and other development deals, none of which they can prove of any net benefit to the city. Baltimore, stupidly, tried for Amazon’s H2Q, too, but, luckily for their residents, missed the cut.
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This bigger than Amazon and taxes, this is also about inept government that spends a lot of money poorly and shows no interest in turning in better work.

And folks getting to "ENOUGH!"
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
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They are the largest contributor to their community; the economic driver of the city, and arguably the state. Amazon has already announced plans to build a 'co-headquarters', which will be in a much more business friendly state. If Seattle isn't careful, they'll loose out on any further expansion, and could start losing the company, bit by bit, as they shift operations. Seattle could become the next Detroit -- and they won't have their housing issue any more.
 
bluesmoke said:
Amazon is the proverbial 500 lb. gorilla in the room that can’t be ignored. This gorilla, though, demands tax breaks and once in the room can throw their weight around at will. Which is happening in Seattle right now. Cities climb over each other to prove which can be the most stupid in giving away future” tax revenue for jobs” deals that never have been proven cost-effective. I’ve yet to see anybody come up with the financial data that shows these kinds of deals are of overall benefit to the cities that make such deals. Baltimore did so once with Amazon, and other development deals, none of which they can prove of any net benefit to the city. Baltimore, stupidly, tried for Amazon’s H2Q, too, but, luckily for their residents, missed the cut.
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In this case, they are concerned about a tax being targeted at them.

Large companies do throw their weight around, but Amazaon has also brought a lot to the community. They have tens of thousands of high paying jobs directly, and many more indirect jobs.
 
Grand Mal said:
Oddly enough, Amazon has just a day or two ago announced an expansion in Vancouver to the tune of 3,000 jobs.
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Since Amazon.ca is separate from Amazon.com, I'm guessing there is not much crossover between CA jobs and US jobs.
 
Socialists only know how to spend, they have no idea how to run an economy. This is proven time and time again. The city of Philadelphia is missing $30 MILLION DOLLARS...no one has accountability, yet they're raising property taxes due to budget holes!
 
jmotivator said:
Since Amazon.ca is separate from Amazon.com, I'm guessing there is not much crossover between CA jobs and US jobs.
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Amazon.ca is part of Amazon.com. The 3000 jobs are not part of .ca operations but .com. So just like HQ2 those 3000 could have been put in Canada or the US
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
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Since every amazon employee pays federal tax, and amazon is the one paying them, I would say that they do pay federal taxes. They probably don't pay federal income tax on the company income not because of tricks, but of our overly complicated and ****ty tax code.
 
Samhain said:
Since every amazon employee pays federal tax, and amazon is the one paying them, I would say that they do pay federal taxes. They probably don't pay federal income tax on the company income not because of tricks, but of our overly complicated and ****ty tax code.
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It's funny how it is a "trick" when the government makes the tax rules and then Amazon follows the rules.
 
The idea that any employer, especially any large employer, pays no federal taxes is just plain imbecilic.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Amazon pays effectively no federal taxes because of tax tricks they use. It is not unreasonable to expect a multi-hundred billion dollar company to chip in a bit on their communities.
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amzn federal income taxes (values in millions)
12/31/13 2014 161
12/31/14 2015 167
12/31/15 2016 950
12/31/16 2017 1425
12/31/17 2018 1558 est

https://invest.ameritrade.com/grid/...tatement/incomestatement?c_name=invest_VENDOR

effectively pays no taxes? :shock:

do you all do any real research on companies before making statements like that?

over a billion dollars in 2017 is effectively no taxes?
 
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