Maryland Offers Second Most-Generous Incentive Package For an Amazon Headquarters

• January 22nd 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

Last week, Montgomery County was announced as one of the 20 locations on Amazon's shortlist for a planned second headquarters. While the details of the bids for most jurisdictions have been shrouded in secrecy, we now know the massive incentives that Maryland has offered.

As reported by the Washington Post, Maryland governor Larry Hogan is proposing that Amazon construct a 100-acre campus in White Flint or North Bethesda and in return the state will offer over $2 billion in tax breaks and $3 billion in transportation upgrades to sweeten the deal  --  an incentive package that, out of those revealed thus far, is second only to New Jersey's $7 billion package.

Creatively-titled "Promoting ext-Raordinary Innovation in Maryland’s Economy (PRIME) Act of 2018", the incentive bill includes ten years of tax credits and exemptions. If passed by the legislature, any Fortune 100 company that builds a new headquarters in Maryland investing $5 billion over 17 years would be offered a credit of 5.75 percent of wages per new qualifying job; state and local property tax credits; and an exemption from state sales and use taxes for construction materials or warehouse equipment.

The bill also includes a claw-back provision that reneges on some of the tax credits if the company fails to hire at least 40,000 people with an average salary of $100,000. Hogan would also offer $10 million in grant money per year for 15 years directly to the company from the state's Sunny Day Fund. Details of the promised transportation upgrades are still under wraps.

DC and Virginia haven't commented on whether they plan to match Maryland's incentives.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/maryland-offers-second-most-generous-incentive-package-for-an-amazon-headqu/13476.