Brett/Adobe Stock Photo
Brett/Adobe Stock Photo
Amazon received $60 million in subsidies, tax breaks, and grants from Indiana communities for 15 projects.
Advocacy group Good Jobs First, which opposes such subsidies, found Indiana provided the 16th-highest amount of grants and breaks among U.S. states to the nearly $1-trillion company.
Indiana is ranked behind South Carolina (5 projects/$64 million) and ahead of Alabama (2 projects/$57 million), Wisconsin (6 projects/$54 million), and Louisiana (7 projects/$49 million).
The most expensive subsidy provided in Indiana was by the Elkhart government, which offered $17 million to Amazon through tax increment financing for road relocation, as well as an undisclosed amount for a 10-year property tax abatement. This abatement equals 100 percent of property taxes in the first year.
The second largest subsidy was worth $16 million for property tax deductions in Fort Wayne.
Indiana’s largest and most expensive subsidy program is called the Research Expense Credit, which provides roughly $100 million annually. However, a report about the effectiveness of the credit was inconclusive.
Transparency laws in Indiana are fairly thorough and publicly available for taxpayers.
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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