Amazon Coming To Florida And Will Collect State Sales Tax
TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Florida Governor Rick Scott and Amazon today announced Amazon’s proposal to create more than 3,000 full time jobs with benefits and more than $300 million in investment in Florida by the end of 2016.
The announcement comes after Scott's denial last month of a behind-the-scenes deal that would have
brought an Amazon.com distribution warehouse to Florida where Amazon
would have been given a break on Florida sales taxes until after the
2013 Christmas shopping season.
But under today's announced arrangement, the Governor's office said Amazon will begin collecting Florida sales tax "at such time as it is
required under current Florida law."
Although Amazon will collect sales tax, the e-commerce giant is looking for some taxpayer money for bringing jobs to the Sunshine State which has the potential of pitting local Florida communities against one another in a bidding war for the jobs. "To make the proposed job creation
and investments economically viable, the availability of economic
development incentives will be a material factor in any final location
decisions," the Governor's office said in a statement.
“Amazon’s commitment to create more than 3,000 new jobs in Florida is further proof that we’ve turned our economy around," Scott said in a press release. "Amazon will continue to work with Enterprise Florida on its ongoing projects which will include a return on any taxpayer investment, and we look forward to the company’s announcements as it chooses locations and creates jobs in Florida.”
“We thank Governor Scott for his commitment to creating jobs in Florida,” said Paul Misener, Amazon vice president of global public policy. “We propose to create more than 3,000 new jobs and over $300 million in investment in Florida, while we work toward enactment of the federal Marketplace Fairness Act, which will protect states’ rights to make their own revenue policy choices.”
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