Mike Mareen/Adobe Stock Photo
Mike Mareen/Adobe Stock Photo
Amazon received $57 million in subsidies, tax breaks, and grants from Alabama communities for two projects.
Advocacy group Good Jobs First, which opposes such subsidies, found Alabama provided the 17th-highest amount of grants and breaks among U.S. states to the nearly $1-trillion company.
Alabama is ranked behind Indiana (15 projects/$60 million) and ahead of Wisconsin (6 projects/$54 million), Louisiana (7 projects/$49 million), and New Jersey (3 projects/$45 million).
The most expensive subsidy provided in Alabama was by the Bessemer government in exchange for a distribution center, which offered $55 million to Amazon for various state and local subsidies. However, the distribution center was cancelled, taking with it approximately 1,500 jobs.
The second largest subsidy was worth $2 million from the Mobile government for $1.3 million in infrastructure improvements and $600,000 in state tax credits.
There were no developments which received undisclosed subsidy amounts.
Alabama has provided some high paying subsidies throughout its history, which costs state residents millions of dollars per year. The state’s regressive tax structures causes poorer residents to pay higher portions of their income than high-wage earners.
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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