FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
January 18, 2018
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Amazon Skips Michigan, Proving Snyder Years a Total Fraud
Tax giveaways instead of investing in critical infrastructure leave Michigan out of the running
LANSING — Today, Amazon announced the 20 finalists for its second headquarters leaving Detroit and other Michigan cities that applied out of the running. The finalists included cities in all regions of the country including the Midwest. The decision to exclude Michigan comes despite happy rhetoric from Snyder and his top lieutenants Brian Calley and Bill Schuette about the last decade of total Republican control.
“Rick Snyder’s entire reason for running was to bring his skills as a tech entrepreneur to Michigan and ready our state for this very moment. Amazon’s total rebuke of Michigan is proof that the Republican policies of the last eight years have been a complete failure,” said Hugh Madden, communications director of Progress Michigan. “While Snyder, Calley and Schuette were selling out our state one giveaway to the rich after another, other regions were investing in critical infrastructure and putting their people in a position to succeed. This is an indictment on the entire Republican philosophy: you can’t simply give tax handouts to corporations with the hope they’ll rain down riches on Michigan.”
The decision by Amazon is the second high profile company to reject the Michigan Republican ideology of big tax breaks. FoxConn rejected Rick Snyder’s overtures last year.
“The way to build a state that attracts businesses and people is to invest in roads, education, clean drinking water, transit and other critical infrastructure that provide a better quality of life,” Madden continued. “Rick Snyder wants to claim his nerdy persona fixed Michigan, Calley wants to continue the policies of Rick Sndyer and Bill Schuette wants to be known for bringing in jobs. Today’s decision by Amazon is a total rebuke to their years as Michigan’s top elected officials.”
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