Mike Dot/Adobe Stock Photo
Mike Dot/Adobe Stock Photo
Amazon received $64 million in subsidies, tax breaks, and grants from South Carolina communities for five projects.
Advocacy group Good Jobs First, which opposes such subsidies, found South Carolina provided the 15th-highest amount of grants and breaks among U.S. states to the nearly $1-trillion company.
South Carolina is ranked behind Maryland (3 projects/$68 million) and ahead of Indiana (15 projects/$60 million), Alabama (2 projects/$57 million), and Wisconsin (6 projects/$54 million).
The most expensive subsidy provided in South Carolina was by the Cayce government, which offered $61 million to Amazon in state and local subsidies. Amazon was also allowed to postpone the collection of sales taxes on items bought in the state for five years.
The second largest subsidy was worth $3 million in state grants for a project in Lexington.
There was one development which received an undisclosed subsidy amount.
Due to a lack of transparency and secrecy, South Carolina taxpayers will be stuck paying for never disclosed subsidies to major corporations such as Boeing and Volveo. Nearly $200 million is provided through just two of South Carolina's subsidy programs.
After some controversies regarding its secrecy and poor subsidies oversight, as of 2020 South Carolina started reporting recipients, subsidy amounts, job reports, and investment data for its grants.
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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