Through November and December of 2018, Amazon looked to create a second headquarters in the United States. Amazon stated they could employ 50,000 people with high-paying jobs in the prospective city. Through having this headquarters, surrounding businesses can benefit as well as increase the number of people traveling to that area every day.

In order to improve their city’s economy, many different cities sent pitches to entice Amazon to deliver their headquarters into their area. By the end of the long search, Amazon had chosen to split the new headquarters between Washington, D.C. suburbs and Long Island, Queens, New York. The split areas would lead to a more diverse pool of talent. However, some people opposed the deal with New York. They disagreed with Amazon’s labor practices, the increase of retail in the area, and the tax incentives New York intended to give them. New York had promised to give them a tax break for every job provided to the city. This would amount to over three million dollars because of the 25,000 jobs promised. Many citizens were upset that one of the richest companies would get a tax break when the money from the taxes they paid could be used for building and repairing infrastructure. The jobs would provide the city with a gain of over $27 million.

“Sometimes tax breaks are beneficial, even for a company like Amazon because of the great returns the city gets from jobs.” said sophomore Anne Sheriff.

After a city hearing the opposition, Amazon removed itself from the deal. Both Amazon and New York felt as they could do better without the other. Amazon terminated the search for a replacement headquarter city regardless of the economic benefits.

“I would not have located a major headquarters in New York simply because of the cost of doing business in the city and state.” said history teacher Mr. Cory Jensen.

This deal does not secure the future of New York and Amazon. If sometime again Amazon decides to open their headquarters up in another area, New York could be a viable option, but it does have certain expenses.