Bern blasts biz ‘welfare’
Says Amazon should pay up, not get payouts
ALBANY — Bernie Sanders is the latest politico to hammer away at the deal to bring a second Amazon headquarters to New York City and Virginia.
The Vermont senator on his Facebook page this week ripped the idea of government incentives being used to lure Amazon, which is promising to create at least 25,000 jobs in New York.
The state and city promised the online giant a combined $2.8 billion incentive package.
“At a time of massive corporate profits, and an already re- gressive tax system, Amazon and other large corporations do not need corporate welfare,” Sanders wrote. “Instead, they need to pay their fair share of taxes.”
He added that “we must end the race to the bottom where taxpayers in one city or state are forced to bid against each other for desperately needed jobs. This is what the rigged economy is all about. The rich get richer, and everyone else becomes poorer.”
Gov. Cuomo, who has been defending the deal in a series of interviews the past week, has had a cordial relationship with Sanders. He appeared with Cuomo when the governor announced a free tuition plan for some public college students.
But Sanders has been a frequent critic of Amazon over the years.
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi declined comment on Sanders’ post.
But Cuomo has repeatedly defended the incentive package Amazon as necessary to compete against other states, some more than New York.
The governor has also argued the overall deal is a good one for the state.
He has said in reality, the state is not giving Amazon existing money.
Instead, it promised the company a tax break on some of the money it would have had to pay in new corporate and payroll taxes. Cuomo said that for every billion the company would pay in taxes, the state and city will get a combined $900 million while Amazon will benefit from $100 million in tax breaks.
Meanwhile, while many unions have decried Amazon’s labor record, the influential Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, softened somewhat on the deal while suggesting it will look to organize new Amazon workers.
“Amazon is coming to the most progressive, diverse, union-friendly city and state in the country — a fact that should put to sleep the theory that says we need to kill unions and weaken regulations to attract businesses,” 32BJ President ctor Figueroa said. “As New Yorkers we should proud that HQ2, and the ousands of good union jobs at will build, maintain and sere this complex, are coming Long Island City because of e talent of our workforce, the vibrancy of our communities and the strength of our public institutions.”
Figueroa said “there’s still a lot of input that the new development will need from the city and our community to make sure Amazon serves as a positive force to strengthen our transit system, fund our public schools and help all city residents thrive.”
And part of that input, he asserted, will come from organized labor.
“Now let’s show Amazon how we do business here,” the union head said. “New Yorkers of all walks of life know how to organize in their workplace and on the street to hold corporations and government accountable.”