Before Hitting Pause On HQ2, Amazon Sent a "You're Welcome" To Area Residents

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp shares a fresh perspective on how the "pause" announced for building Amazon's HQ2 headquarters could impact the local community: The Falls Church News-Press notes that Amazon's pause announcement came just days after a 12-page glossy mass mailing entitled Capital Region Community Impact Report went out to thousands in the region.

Beginning with a statement from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the report spelled out "Amazon's philanthropic commitments in the Capital Region," including $32M donated to 150+ local organizations in 2021, $990M+ committed to create and preserve 6,245 affordable housing units. 13,700 people supported by Amazon-funded affordable housing investments and 23,000 students who received food, clothing, school supplies, hygiene items and other urgent support through Amazon's Right Now Needs Fund.

According to the report, the commitments also included benefits to 75,000+ students across 343 schools who received computer science education through the Amazon Future Engineer program, to 166,000+ students who participated in the CodeVA K-12 CS education program during the 2021-22 academic year, the 5.3 million free meals delivered to underserved families in partnership with Northern Virginia food banks, 10,000 meals purchased from local restaurants and donated to support Covid-19 first responders, $350,000 contributed to local community theaters and arts-focused non-profits, to 6,000 students who explored cloud computing solutions at the Wakefield H.S. Think Big in the 2021-22 academic year, the 200,000 children and families from underserved communities who received free access to the National Children's Museum through a $250,000 gift from Amazon, and the 16,700+ students served by Amazon's support for local youth sports leagues.

Not to look an Amazon philanthropy gift horse in the mouth, but should politicians be reliant on Amazon philanthropy to meet their communities' basic needs? Amazon's 2022 income taxes, by the way, were -$3.217B.

Funding Community needs

[methano]

When politicians decided that a lottery was a good way to fund education, their moral compass was so off-track that asking Amazon to fund other Community needs seems a natural choice.

Re:

[schwit1]

Funding education? It's never that simple.
https://www.pilotonline.com/ne... [pilotonline.com]

Re:Funding Community needs

[dead_user]

I always liken it to someone peeing in the pool and expecting that it will stay in that corner. Even if 100% of lottery money goes to education, it doesn't mean education gets more. It just means the money that used to be spent on education gets put in the general fund instead.

Re:Funding Community needs

[quonset]

When politicians decided that a lottery was a good way to fund education

The American Revolution was partially funded by a lottery, among other uses [atlasobscura.com] for lotteries during our early years.

Re:

[Potor]

Somebody has read Aristotle.

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[Petersko]

So what? Let's say $200 arrives at a food bank, $100 each from 2 entities, one of which is "truly" philanthropic (no mention of name or acknowledgement), the other insists on their name in a newsletter, and puts their donation on their company web page with a photograph of the receipt. Which donation buys more Cheerios? And why would they give a flying fuck what the motivation was?

Laptop batteries for Scott's Tots..

[AmazingRuss]

...on a larger scale. The cringe felt round the world.

Here's a weird concept:

[Gravis Zero]

I have a plan where we get all the benefits of corporations helping communities without the bullshit. I call my plan taxation. Strangely, it seems to work everywhere but the US.

Re:

[CubicleZombie]

I have a plan where we get all the benefits of corporations helping communities without the bullshit. I call my plan taxation.

It still works that way. My small town is getting an Amazon data center (and associated power lines) despite overwhelming protest of the residents. The county government says the tax revenue is more important.

That several elected members of the county government are getting lucrative jobs with Amazon corporate is purely a coincidence.

Federal Ban

[Thelasko]

There needs to be a federal ban on special tax incentives for large corporations. They should play by the same rules as everyone else. The way it is now, everyone loses but the corporation.

Re:

[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

... play by the same rules ...

The first problem is certain businesses, such as hospitals, schools, telecommunications, public broadcast (Tv.), hold a disproportionate amount of power over the daily routine of voters: Thus extra rules and tax incentives are needed to control them and ensure they remain a public good. The problem would end there except the government doesn't enforce the rules as written.

The second problem is, when a party or president declares certain rules to be a must-have, fellow politicians demand a bonus for doi

Re:

[Gilmoure]

Corporations are the life form to eclipse (and eventually consume) humanity.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Hell no!

[jenningsthecat]

... should politicians be reliant on Amazon philanthropy to meet their communities' basic needs? Amazon's 2022 income taxes, by the way, were -$3.217B.

The answer to that question is "NO". Amazon shouldn't get to determine if, when, or how they pay their share of the support they owe for the advantages of a civilized society. And that negative tax figure implies tax credits and/or outright subsidies, which means that they are entirely in control of how much they "give back" and how it's spent.

It's hard to blame Amazon for this though - like any large corporation it's a psychopathic predator acting in its own best interest. And we should be acting in OUR own interest - we should recognize the predator's nature and either force it to behave or kill it, regardless of how charming it might be and how much short-term convenience it offers.

Any system that allows companies like Amazon to pay less than no tax, while reaping the benefits of public infrastructure, wreaking havoc on the environment and on smaller businesses, and abusing its own workers, is a system that is horribly, horribly broken.

Re:

[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

... is a system that is horribly, horribly broken.

Blame the US-ians who vote against politicians running on a platform of socialism/welfare for the benefit of all people. The result is government ignoring criminal behaviour by corporations who provide the welfare it is not allowed to supply.

Re:

[Kokuyo]

How do you equate socialism/welfare with less corruption?

That kinda blows my mind, honestly.

IMO what the US needs is at leas a third party, it needs to do away with lobbying and it needs a more direct approach to democracy.

Re:

[brickhouse98]

The US has a third party (and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth, and so on.) The US needs structural reform. Voting needs to be ranked choice or similar, citizens united needs overturned, the House needs uncapped, etc. etc. etc. All of which has a next to zero chance of actually being implemented.

Negative income tax

[MysteriousPreacher]

>Amazon's 2022 income taxes, by the way, were -$3.217B.

From the same site: Amazon annual net income for 2022 was $-2.722B

It's almost as if there's a connection.

Re:

[jd]

If their income was negative, I'd look closely at what is being put into that calculation. I absolutely refuse to believe Amazon actually LOST money last year. I am, however, willing to believe they fudged figures and offshored stuff to make it look like they lost money last year.

Re: Negative income tax

[MysteriousPreacher]

Sure, it's possible. I find it difficult to believe Miley Cyrus ended up a skank, yet it's difficult to argue otherwise.

You do know we tax income not wealth?

[chas.williams]

And even so, estimating wealth would be fairly difficult for a large, multi-national company.

question is wrong

[argStyopa]

"... should politicians be reliant on Amazon philanthropy to meet their communities' basic needs? ..."

No, but then again none of the things listed would be reasonably classified as "basic needs".