Corporate welfare for Amazon tough to stomach

It’s understandable that people who care about growing jobs would do everything possible to ensure “Miami MSA” is the chosen home for Amazon’s second headquarters.

HQ2 is the trophy deal of the decade. Amazon promises to create 50,000 jobs in its second hometown, plus spend $5 billion on construction. It says spillover effects will add tens of thousands more jobs and billions more in investments. To underscore the potential, it says its Seattle headquarters added $38 billion to the city’s economy over seven years.

So it comes as no surprise that 238 cities and regions have bid to land HQ2, an announcement Amazon made Monday. Florida suitors are Tampa Bay, Orlando, Jacksonville and “Miami MSA.” (What’s with the new name? Don’t we call ourselves South Florida?)

Still, something sticks in our craw about the way this game is being played, starting with the expectation that taxpayers give giant handouts to Amazon, a $430 billion company perched atop the Standard & Poor’s 500.

In announcing the competition, Amazon made clear that government incentives would “be significant factors in the decision-making process.”

You’d think our hip quality of life, universities, international airports, friendly business environment, beaches, low taxes, talented workforce, professional sports teams and access to Latin America would speak for themselves. Sure, traffic can be a bear, but we’ve got three great seaports, commuter rail and a go-fast intercity train service about to launch.

But over the years, government has trained big business to expect sizable grants and tax breaks when they plan to relocate or expand. In many cases, these incentives have gone to companies already planning a move to a state. Some have gone to companies even after they’ve moved. And some have gone to companies that don’t deliver.

Now put yourself in the shoes of Amazon’s competitors — and who isn’t a competitor these days?

Amazon has changed the way we shop for consumer goods. Its rise has caused the death or decline of beloved homegrown businesses. Should we really give this behemoth government money to grow even more?

On the other hand, if we don’t play Amazon’s game, we won’t win.

Look at the landscape. Newark is offering $7 billion in incentives. Chicago, $2.5 billion.

How much is Miami MSA offering? No one will say. That’s because Florida laws let governments keep such sweetheart deals secret.

There’s an aha moment, in this Amazon bidding war, when you sadly realize that Florida is now less transparent than the political machines of New Jersey and Illinois.

In South Florida — or, ahem, Miami MSA — the lone person designated to discuss the proposal is Michael Finney, the new CEO of Miami’s Beacon Council.

Finney said Miami MSA’s bid identified eight possible sites, five in Miami-Dade, two in Broward and one in Palm Beach County. Should Amazon pursue one of these sites, only the home county would be asked to pony up. By working together, the region showcased a workforce 3.1 million strong, he said.

Though Amazon sought specific information about incentives and timelines, Finney said the region’s bid speaks generally, though knowledgeably, about the possibilities. He encourages us not to think of incentives as giveaways, so much as fore- going future tax dollars. Should HQ2 happen here, he said small businesses would benefit from increased economic activity and new distribution systems from a sizable tech hub. “Large established companies have an opportunity to contribute more to the growth of a region than anything else.”

Still, Amazon represents the new poster child in Tallahassee’s battle over government giveaways, a fight pushed by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group founded by David and Charles Koch.

“It isn’t the role of government to be handing out other people’s money to lure a company to their region or state,” AFP’s Florida spokesman Andres Malave told us. Less regulation and lower taxes are the better way to create an environment for businesses to grow, he said.

Last spring, Gov. Rick Scott sought $100 million to recruit certain categories of businesses that promise to do certain things. But Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a darling of AFP, blocked his way, calling such incentives by their rightful name: “corporate welfare.”

We tried to talk to Corcoran about HQ2, but he sent a statement saying, among other things, the “taxpayer-fleecing headquarters auction that cities seem to be on will end badly for hard-working Americans. Whether it’s massive tax breaks, subsidies or direct payments, it’s all economically unsound policy. It is also unfair to taxpayers.”

We tried to talk to Gov. Scott, too, but he sent a statement saying, among other things, that he’s cut $7 billion in taxes, reduced 500 regulations and created more than 1.3 million jobs “so no other state can outcompete Florida as the best destination for Amazon’s new headquarters.”

Without question, our region would win if Amazon chose Miami MSA for its second headquarters. The proposed city-sized campus promises high-skilled jobs and cutting-edge spinoffs sure to raise salaries and home values. Regional leaders hope it helps that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, now the richest person in the world, once lived in Miami and attended Palmetto Senior High School.

Still, government incentives erode tax bases for cities and schools.

And it’s tough to stomach giving taxpayer money to a company whose CEO is worth more than $90 billion.

As an aside, we asked Finney about this new name, “Miami MSA.”

“Miami is a brand that is really recognized,” he said. “To say ‘South Florida’ doesn’t really tell you very much. It’s not that exciting. We are commonly referred to as the Miami MSA, and that is what we used to represent the proposal.”

We beg to differ. People in Broward and Palm Beach don’t identify as being part of “Miami MSA.” And as Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez likes to quip, you can only see two walls from outer space, the Great Wall of China and the wall between MiamiDade and Broward.

Our region faces tough odds in the competition for HQ2. No outsider lists us as a top contender.

Still, we hear this three-county process has matured our approach to attracting new companies and skilled jobs. That’s good news. Now if we could only shift the mindset away from government giveaways.