Amazon Seeking 2nd Headquarters: Canadian Cities Pitch Interest

[svlt]

Originally Posted by logan5

The question is how many of those jobs will Vancouver get? Interesting to see the CNBC story mention Vancouver along with Boston and San Francisco as Amazon hubs.

Complete speculation but with 25,000 to distribute among 17 cities, I'd reckon Vancouver would get at an additional 1,000-2,000 of those. They're already slated for 5,000 by 2022. HQ2 was always a ridiculous reach for Vancouver so this is an ideal scenario.

Hopefully this entire exercise of bidding and studies from 200+ municipalities wasn't a complete waste and Amazon is using some of the applications to inform their allocations.

[LeftCoaster]

Word is roughly 3,000-4,000 of the HQ2 jobs will be Vancouver bound now. Couldn't have worked out better for the city with a ton of the jobs now ending up there but didn't have to drop their drawers on the tax rebates like some jurisdictions.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Word is roughly 3,000-4,000 of the HQ2 jobs will be Vancouver bound now. Couldn't have worked out better for the city with a ton of the jobs now ending up there but didn't have to drop their drawers on the tax rebates like some jurisdictions.

So, 8,000-9,000 in eventual total now?

[LeftCoaster]

Yes around that.

It's pretty well in flux at all times so that number could easily go up or down at this point.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Word is roughly 3,000-4,000 of the HQ2 jobs will be Vancouver bound now. Couldn't have worked out better for the city with a ton of the jobs now ending up there but didn't have to drop their drawers on the tax rebates like some jurisdictions.

Am I right that no tax incentives were offered by the city or the province?

[vid]

How exactly do you offer a tax incentive to a company that doesn't pay tax?

[SpongeG]

how do they not pay taxes? Like have they found a loophole? or?

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

how do they not pay taxes? Like have they found a loophole? or?

That claim that Amazon pays no taxes is Hogwash. Amazon pays plenty of US payroll taxes, in addition to state and municipal taxes. Not to mention the income taxes paid by all their employees.

What is true (fact) is that Amazon hasn't paid US FEDERAL taxes in a few years - because they don't have to based on current US tax laws. Taxes are paid on profits, and Amazon plows most of its 'profits' back into R&D and capital costs such as plants and buildings. Those costs (ie $22 Billion USD in R&D last fiscal year) the US allows corporations to write off in lieu of increased employment and taxable revenues generated by the R&D and expansions in future years (read even more tax $$$). Amazon gets no immediate revenue/profit from much of their R&D (some just doesn't go anywhere) but in doing so, they employ thousands of highly educated and highly paid researchers - who pay lots of taxes to the Fed and States.

Also worth noting is that Amazon provides pretty good benefits to its employees - https://www.amazondelivers.jobs/about/benefits/

Benefits are so good that workers are now only fighting for free corporate backup daycare! I can only dream of such a benefit (cost us up to 1800/month for many years)

“We are proud to offer valuable, competitive benefits to our over 250,000 US employees – including hourly, salaried, corporate, and operations – from $15 minimum wage, to 401(k) matching, flexible parental leave and health benefits starting on the first day at work. For example, we provide comprehensive fertility benefits, memberships and discounts for childcare services, and flexible parental leave programs that provide birth parents up to 20 weeks of paid leave and non-birth parents up to six weeks of parental leave. At Amazon, everyone, regardless of their position, level or tenure, has access to the same benefits – there are no tiers, and no employee is more important than another. When creating benefits, we focus on efforts that can scale to help the largest number of individuals, and work in partnership with our employees to ensure that what we are building offers meaningful support.”

In the USA, companies are not even legally required provide their employees with paid vacation time!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by vid

How exactly do you offer a tax incentive to a company that doesn't pay tax?

You cut a cheque?

[vid]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

You cut a cheque?

Wouldn't cutting the check render it void?

You must forgive my ignorance, I'm a millennial.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by vid

Wouldn't cutting the check render it void?

You must forgive my ignorance, I'm a millennial.

Not sure if serious because you have no indication that you are just being smart, but cutting a cheque is just an expression to indicate writing a cheque

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

That claim that Amazon pays no taxes is Hogwash. Amazon pays plenty of US payroll taxes, in addition to state and municipal taxes. Not to mention the income taxes paid by all their employees.

What is true (fact) is that Amazon hasn't paid US FEDERAL taxes in a few years - because they don't have to based on current US tax laws. Taxes are paid on profits, and Amazon plows most of its 'profits' back into R&D and capital costs such as plants and buildings. Those costs (ie $22 Billion USD in R&D last fiscal year) the US allows corporations to write off in lieu of increased employment and taxable revenues generated by the R&D and expansions in future years (read even more tax $$$). Amazon gets no immediate revenue/profit from much of their R&D (some just doesn't go anywhere) but in doing so, they employ thousands of highly educated and highly paid researchers - who pay lots of taxes to the Fed and States.

Also worth noting is that Amazon provides pretty good benefits to its employees - https://www.amazondelivers.jobs/about/benefits/

Benefits are so good that workers are now only fighting for free corporate backup daycare! I can only dream of such a benefit (cost us up to 1800/month for many years)



In the USA, companies are not even legally required provide their employees with paid vacation time!

Using personal income tax of Amazon employees as a way the corporate behemoth is paying its social responsibilities needs to stop.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Word is roughly 3,000-4,000 of the HQ2 jobs will be Vancouver bound now. Couldn't have worked out better for the city with a ton of the jobs now ending up there but didn't have to drop their drawers on the tax rebates like some jurisdictions.

Not expressing any skepticism, but just curious where you had heard this from - internal information or something published?

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by svlt

Not expressing any skepticism, but just curious where you had heard this from - internal information or something published?

Credible sources within the Vancouver business community. Definitely nothing published, and not yet final, numbers could easily change over the coming few years.

[CityTech]

Those 25,000 jobs that were going to HQ2 in New York are probably going to be scattered around the continent instead. Putting a few thousand in Vancouver is quite possible. I could see Toronto getting a bit too, then maybe Chicago and some cities in the US sunbelt.

[LeftCoaster]

So far Amazon has only singled out Vancouver, Austin, and Boston as being beneficiaries of the jobs no longer going to NYC.

I would imagine a vast majority of the 25,000 not going to those three cities will just end up in Virginia at the actual HQ2.

[Prometheus]

I assume Amazon has some kind of option on the remaining unconfirmed half of The Post development in Vancouver? The numbers you are hearing line up decently (maybe even perfectly?) with the unspoken for space.

[LeftCoaster]

I can't say for certain but I would think Amazon would have some sort of right on the remaining space.

[megadude]

Last year I asked why there were no fulfillment centres in the east end. Well here it is:

Amazon has announced plans to open a new fulfillment centre in Scarborough that will bring more than 600 full-time jobs to Toronto.

In a news release sent out Monday, Amazon said it will be hiring full-time associates at the one-million-square-foot robotics facility to “pick, pack and ship small items to customers ranging from toys and baby products to small electronics.”

This will be Amazon’s 12th fulfillment centre in the country and seventh in Ontario. Currently, there are operations facilities in Brampton, Mississauga, Milton, Caledon and Ottawa.

Originally Posted by megadude

Why are all four GTA warehouses in the west? I found that surprising. Thought they'd put one in Durham by now to serve the east end and points in between GTA and Ottawa. I'm also curious how far the Ottawa centre's reach will be in Ontario.




Quote:
Amazon to build fourth GTA fulfillment centre in Caledon
Don Wilcox | Property Biz Canada | 2018-07-25

It’s not the HQ2 news the business world is waiting for, but e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN-Q) will build a fourth fulfillment centre in the Greater Toronto Area, a million-square-foot facility in the Town of Caledon, north of the city.

The company says the new facility will create more than 800 full-time jobs. It will join Amazon’s network of existing Ontario buildings in Brampton, Mississauga and Milton and a recently announced million-square-foot facility in Ottawa.

This will be Amazon’s sixth fulfillment centre in Ontario, where it currently employs more than 2,000 full-time workers. It will be the innovative online retailer’s ninth such facility in Canada.

“We continue to be excited about our growth in Ontario and the opportunity to better serve our customers in the region,” said Glenn Sommerville, director of Amazon operations in Canada, in a release Wednesday morning.

“We’re seeing an incredible workforce and community support in Greater Toronto. It makes us proud to add a new fulfillment centre to better meet customer demand while creating more than 800 full-time jobs with great pay and benefits to support the local economy.”