Mike Mareen/Adobe Stock Photo
Mike Mareen/Adobe Stock Photo
Amazon received $45 million in subsidies, tax breaks, and grants from New Jersey communities for three projects.
Advocacy group Good Jobs First, which opposes such subsidies, found New Jersey provided the 20th-highest amount of grants and breaks among U.S. states to the nearly $1-trillion company.
New Jersey is ranked behind Louisiana (7 projects/$49 million) and ahead of Florida (13 projects/$43 million), Connecticut (3 projects/$38 million), and North Carolina (5 projects/$31 million).
The most expensive subsidy provided in New Jersey was by the Newark government, which offered $39 million to Amazon in state grants. The money was earmarked for a sortation center at the Newark airport with a promised 1,000 jobs. The deal collapsed in 2022. While no official reason was given for the cancellation, labor groups and environmental advocates had heavily criticized the project.
The second largest subsidy was worth $7 million for a Media Production Tax Credit.
There was one development which received an undisclosed subsidy amount.
In the late 2010's, New Jersey’s economic strategy and subsidies policy was found to be corrupt and full of overpayments and fraudulent applications.
Despite the controversies, the state enacted two new programs, Emerge and Aspire, both costing the population up to $1.1 billion a year.
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 |
Alerts Sign-up