INDIANAPOLIS – An Indiana lawmaker is trying to get Amazon to reconsider the Hoosier state after the company abandoned its plans to build its second headquarters in New York.
Amazon changed its mind about New York earlier this month after backlash from lawmakers and progressive activists about the billions of dollars in tax incentives the state and city offered the company.
Indiana Rep. Jeff Ellington, R-Bloomington, sent an open letter to Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, saying Indiana is a more welcoming business environment than New York.
"I think anybody who has a great idea and can make money and create jobs wherever the footprint is, it is a positive benefit,” Ellington said Tuesday. “I don't see it as corporate welfare. These are tax dollars that we're not giving, we're just deferring with their investment of infrastructure through property taxes and payroll taxes."
When Amazon canceled its plans, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, celebrated. She highlighted a report that Amazon will pay $0 in taxes with $11.2 billion in profits.
“Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?” she wrote on Twitter.
Ellington criticized those who didn’t want the Amazon deal in New York, like Ocasio-Cortez.
“The other HQ2 was supposed to locate in New York City, until many left-wing critics, including a newly empowered socialist wing of the Democrats, began blasting ‘tax breaks’ and tax giveaways,” Ellington wrote.
Indiana’s bid for Amazon has been largely kept a secret. It was made through the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.
IndyChamber spokesperson Joe Pellman said they “have not had conversations with Amazon concerning their recent news out of New York.”
It’s unlikely Ellington’s efforts will get anywhere, as Amazon has said it is not re-opening the search for another headquarters location. It will instead focus on the planned location in Virginia.
Read Ellington’s full letter below:
An open letter to Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com Inc.:
On behalf of my constituents of Indiana House District 62, which includes Bloomfield and parts of Bloomington, Indiana, I want to invite you to come to the great Hoosier state and scout locations for your secondary headquarters, known as HQ2.
The two-part secondary Amazon headquarters will locate in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. The other HQ2 was supposed to locate in New York City, until many left-wing critics, including a newly empowered socialist wing of the Democrats, began blasting “tax breaks” and tax giveaways.
Frankly, for New York to attract HQ2, they would have to give a lot of such tax breaks, because New York City is an expensive place to do business. It has a high income tax, a high city income tax and it has many unnecessary
regulations.
Indiana is a much more pro-business and welcoming environment. We understand that even if we give you “tax breaks,” you will still create new tax revenue where none existed before, creating a massive net gain for the Indiana treasury and taxpayers. Socialist demagogues forgot that fact or ignored it simply to score political points.
Indeed, if Amazon's HQ2 comes to Indiana, we can expect 25,000 jobs that pay an average of $150,000. Secondary jobs created by this new activity can be expected to range from 22,000 (the Virginia estimate) to 65,000 (the New York estimate). The new Amazon base means a new payroll of $3.75 billion in new Amazon wages alone – it says nothing about the property taxes and associated economic activity that HQ2 would generate. Why New York City turned their nose up at this new revenue and work is beyond me.
So come to Indiana and look around, as many Illinois and Ohio businesses have done. We have great infrastructure and talent. House District 62 contains an easy-to-access Interstate 69, and is next to Indiana University Bloomington, the flagship campus and one of the best public universities in the nation. We are also close to the Indianapolis International Airport. We have talent here.
Two other sites that could accommodate Amazon HQ2 are Indianapolis, which has access to an international airport and three interstate roads, as well as many colleges; and Northwest Indiana, which is next to Chicago, but minus the expense and regulation. Indeed, when Boeing located in Chicago, they put their corporate airfleet at the Gary airport. Places like Greene County, Indianapolis, and Valparaiso would be a great Hoosier places to consider placing your HQ2.
Please reach out our economic team, headed by Gov. Eric Holcomb. I hope we can welcome you.
Sincerely,
Jeff Ellington
Bloomington, Indiana
