Kansas City’s mayor reviewed 1,000 products on Amazon. Basketball star Michael Jordan wrote a personal letter to the e-commerce giant’s CEO Jeff Bezos. Meanwhile, Georgia offered to name in new city after the company.
But as creative as those attempts are to woo Amazon for its second headquarters, it’s far more likely that the big dollars that Amazon has asked for will be a major deciding factor in its location.
That likely what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had in mind when he submitted the official proposal for placing Amazon’s HQ2 in Newark Monday, getting straight to the point. Responding to Amazon’s specific tax requests as a condition for building its second headquarter in any given city, Christie proposed up to $7 billion in tax incentives.
Amazon has said that the new location would result in 50,000 new jobs and a $5 billion investment. New Jersey estimates HQ2 could bring a $9 billion boost to the state’s economy, which has struggled to come back from the riots in 1967.
Christie said Monday that his state would be willing to provide $5 billion in tax incentives over the course of 10 years once those 50,000 jobs are added. The city of Newark meanwhile is also offering a local property tax break that could save the company another $1 billion, and is also offering to waive $1 billion worth in wage taxes for employees over 20 years.
While New Jersey’s tax incentive plan is likely the largest one put forward yet by any city, the deadline for HQ2 proposal submissions has not yet passed. Amazon is giving cities and states until Oct. 19 to submit a plan.
Philadelphia meanwhile is also offering 10 years of property tax abatement. It’s unclear how much in savings Amazon will gain from the plan. The city’s mayor James Kenney said in September that they hadn’t gotten to the specifics about those tax incentives.