Monday, April 2, 2012

States fight back against Amazon.com's tax deals

When South Carolina's Legislature voted down a sales-tax exemption, Amazon stopped construction on its million-square-foot warehouse in Cayce, S.C., and threatened to walk away, throwing thousands of jobs into jeopardy. Amazon's threat worked: Lawmakers gave Amazon a five-year sales-tax reprieve, on top of $33 million in incentives that included free land, a property-tax cut and payroll tax credits.