The House of Delegates passed the Major Headquarters Workforce Grant Fund today. This grant package is the Amazon subsidies package with a different name.
This package of goodies passed the State Senate last week on a vote of 35 to 5. The five nay votes were all from conservative Republicans. Today’s vote in the House was 83 to 16, with the nay votes coming from a mix of bipartisanship. So both chambers passed it easily.
This is a troubling precedent. Tax payers should not have to give hundreds of millions of dollars to one of the world’s richest companies in-order to entice them to build a headquarters in the commonwealth. If anyone can afford the move without huge tax breaks its Amazon. Other alternatives to attracting companies that doesn’t involve such large tax breaks for one specific company like this need to be explored.
The governor is expected to sign this deal into law.
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