{"id":785,"date":"2013-05-15T19:04:02","date_gmt":"2013-05-16T02:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=785"},"modified":"2013-05-15T19:04:02","modified_gmt":"2013-05-16T02:04:02","slug":"amazon-and-economic-impact-eitheror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/05\/amazon-and-economic-impact-eitheror\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon and economic impact: either\/or"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ABB<\/a>The Daily Telegraph<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s UK operation generated \u00a34.2bn of sales last year, but it used a subsidiary in Luxembourg to help it reduce its corporation tax bill in the country to just \u00a32.4m in 2012. According to documents filed at Companies House, the company received \u00a32.5m in government handouts over the same period.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also:<\/p>\n

The Seattle-based company would not say which investments the UK Government has helped with, but last year it opened a new distribution plant in Hemel Hempstead, creating 600 jobs, promising to open three more over the next two years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The comments section for the article is much what you would expect: Why is the government giving money to Amazon!? But we know exactly the argument Amazon’s representatives would use: think of the economic impact! 600 jobs! And the indirect impacts and so on and so on …<\/p>\n

The false promise of economic impact studies (see this earlier post<\/a>) puts all sectors – nonprofit arts, commercial book retailers, casinos, football stadiums, telephone call centers – on the same footing. They can all make the same claims of job creation and spin-off effects. Either we reject this method of analysis, or we recognize that many, many firms will approach government with the same claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Daily Telegraph reports: Amazon\u2019s UK operation generated \u00a34.2bn of sales last year, but it used a subsidiary in Luxembourg to help it reduce its corporation tax bill in the country to just \u00a32.4m in 2012. According to documents filed at Companies House, the company received \u00a32.5m in government handouts over the same period. Also: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issues","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-cF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2097,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/08\/about-that-italian-e500\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":0},"title":"About that Italian \u20ac500","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"August 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Italian government has announced that it will give all eighteen-year olds, on their birthday, a \u20ac500 voucher to spend on books, film, music or theatre. The Independent reports here, and The Atlantic here, which says: The initiative \u201creminds [youth] how important cultural consumption is, both for enriching yourself as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I'm a boy and I'm a man","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/eighteen.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/05\/the-economic-impact-of-everything-a-response\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":1},"title":"The economic impact of everything: a response","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I will present a thoughful comment from my previous post in full, since it is worth addressing in depth: Respectfully, so what if \u201cmany, many firms will approach government with the same claims\u201d of job creation and economic impact? So what if every living organism announces what economic benefit they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"we get letters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/postbox-224x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/lotteries-should-not-be-used-to-fund-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":2},"title":"Lotteries should not be used to fund the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Blog neighbor Greg Sandow posts about the relationship between arts funding and gambling, especially regarding early Italian opera. It's tongue in cheek, but he concludes: For those without a sense of humor: I know very well that gambling raises moral questions, and legal questions, too, not to mention questions involving\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/lotteries-should-not-be-used-to-fund-the-arts\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"no way to fund the arts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/powerball-lottery-ticket-604ds032513-300x162.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3824,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/07\/the-search-for-the-very-nice-arts-philanthropist\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":3},"title":"The search for the very nice arts philanthropist","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, the Scottish government came up with a\u00a0one-time grant of \u00a3300,000\u00a0to cover the Edinburgh International Book Festival, after pressure from environmental protestors caused the previous sponsor, Baillie Gifford, to back out. This week in Canada, its premier book award, the Giller Prize, having lost its primary sponsor, Scotiabank, after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1310,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/05\/why-tax-breaks-for-commercial-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":4},"title":"Why tax breaks for commercial theatre?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Stage reports (and I repost the story in full here): Tax breaks for the theatre industry to be introduced this autumn could bring in \u00a3100 million for commercial theatre and \u00a320 million for touring productions in coming years, Arts Council England\u2019s chair PeterBazalgette has said. He said the initiative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"coherent arts policy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Pound-Sterling-Progress.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3667,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/12\/on-indirect-support-for-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":785,"position":5},"title":"On “indirect” support for the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Thomas Wolf has\u00a0posted a short piece\u00a0on the history of the National Endowment for the Arts, whether it is likely to survive the coming second Trump administration, and the tax deduction for charitable contributions. I\u2019m going to focus on that last bit\u2026 People who itemize their income tax deductions can claim\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-3.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-3.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-3.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}