How to Attract Amazon’s HQ2

Newington, New Hampshire’s beautiful Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge is just one of the state’s many attractions. Credit: USFWS

If you’re a small business owner, then you probably can’t relate to the full court press from what seems like all of New England—and the rest of America for that matter—hoping to lure Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to choose their city or state for its second headquarters. You might be saying to yourself “no one put on a press conference to have me move to start a business.”

Which is why I like the approach New Hampshire is taking. Yes, it wants Bezos. But it doesn’t have to fund HQ2 with tax breaks residents end up paying.

“Everyone else is still trying to play catchup to this tax incentive we created in 1789 – no sales tax and no income tax,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu in unveiling the state’s official bid. “We don’t play in the game of giving massive tax breaks,” Sununu said. “Other states have to do that because they have massive taxes. … Everyone else is still trying to play catch-up to New Hampshire. This provides a gateway opportunity to promote that.”

But, as some are asking, where will the projected 50,000 new Amazon employees live? At home, of course, since about 120,000 New Hampshire residents commute to Boston, Massachusetts everyday.

If states and cities were more business friendly like New Hampshire, we wouldn’t have politicians selling their souls to Bezos. Instead, they could turn the table on Bezos and ask him: Why is Amazon good for our residents and local businesses?

Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.