Macieg Bledowski/Adobe Stock Photo
Macieg Bledowski/Adobe Stock Photo
Amazon received $85 million in subsidies, tax breaks, and grants from California communities for 12 projects.
Advocacy group Good Jobs First, which opposes such subsidies, found California provided the 12th-highest amount of grants and breaks among U.S. states to the nearly $1-trillion company.
California is ranked behind Massachusetts (5 projects/$87 million) and ahead of Michigan (5 projects/$82 million), Maryland (3 projects/$68 million), and South Carolina (5 projects/$64 million).
The most expensive subsidy provided in California was by the Fresno government, which offered $30 million to Amazon for a 30-year local sale and use sharing agreement.
The second largest subsidy was worth $21 million for a Film and Television Tax Credit.
There were no developments which received undisclosed subsidy amounts.
In California, several subsidized Amazon projects have yet to materialize.
A 2021 Amazon plan to build a 500-employee distribution center was overturned by Oceanside City Council, citing “discrepancies in the information provided to the city about the number of delivery vans, noise, parking and other details of the project.”
Last March, Amazon pulled out of an agreement to lease a big box facility in West Covina, in the San Gabriel Valley. The proposed “light warehousing and distribution operation” promised to employ 250.
Development of two Amazon facilities in Sonoma County, which were each expected to employ upwards of 300 people, were called off in April, 2022. Amazon claimed it was "unable to secure permits from the county in a timely manner."
Also last April, Amazoncanceled a planned 2.9 million square foot warehouse in Salinas, citing high construction costs.
California provides the largest film credit in the U.S., given that it's one of the hottest spots to for film and television.
There is no established body in California to audit subsidies and tax breaks. Besides the film credit, the state does not offer many incentive programs.
As of Nov. 17, 2022, Amazon had received 310 separate tax break deals from local and state governments across the U.S., totaling $5.14 billion. The state of Virginia was home to the largest portion of these taxpayer-subsidized Amazon projects.
| State | # Projects | Total Subsidy |
|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 20 | $824,291,799 |
| Illinois | 16 | $732,973,199 |
| New York | 22 | $671,446,986 |
| Washington | 10 | $608,644,670 |
| Oregon | 32 | $483,459,645 |
| Texas | 13 | $305,959,751 |
| Ohio | 14 | $172,418,555 |
| Tennessee | 20 | $166,030,438 |
| Kentucky | 21 | $111,789,976 |
| Missouri | 2 | $110,600,000 |
| Massachusetts | 5 | $86,979,275 |
| California | 12 | $84,541,000 |
| Michigan | 5 | $82,352,146 |
| Maryland | 3 | $68,425,000 |
| South Carolina | 5 | $64,297,962 |
| Indiana | 15 | $60,389,500 |
| Alabama | 2 | $56,500,000 |
| Wisconsin | 6 | $54,135,500 |
| Louisiana | 7 | $48,967,587 |
| New Jersey | 3 | $45,422,240 |
| Florida | 13 | $43,239,475 |
| Connecticut | 3 | $37,700,000 |
| North Carolina | 5 | $31,186,975 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | $29,557,871 |
| Georgia | 5 | $27,115,929 |
| Mississippi | 3 | $23,925,795 |
| Iowa | 2 | $22,400,000 |
| Kansas | 2 | $21,802,522 |
| Colorado | 9 | $15,779,091 |
| Oklahoma | 5 | $11,207,651 |
| Utah | 3 | $9,780,226 |
| Delaware | 2 | $7,972,500 |
| Minnesota | 1 | $5,700,000 |
| New Mexico | 1 | $5,244,071 |
| Arizona | 2 | $5,139,671 |
| Nevada | 5 | $3,251,324 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | $2,700,000 |
| Maine | 11 | $578,828 |
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