Every city and state in the country wants a shot at landing Amazon’s so-called HQ2, its second headquarters. Indeed, it could be an economic windfall for years to come.
But small business owners, who by and large prefer broad-based economic reforms to targeted taxpayer incentives, are pushing back, according to CBS Minnesota.
“Giving tax breaks to big companies like Amazon does not create the kind of economy that helps small businesses or most people thrive,” said owner of Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, Angela Schwesnedl.
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small business owners make up 97.8 percent of Minnesota small businesses.
“While Amazon and companies like it have received literally hundreds of millions of dollars in tax subsidies,” said Dan Marshall, the owner of Mischief, a St. Paul toy store, “small business owners like us wake up every morning wondering if we’re going to have health insurance again in a few months.”
