Gov. Ralph Northam doesn’t want Virginia’s online sales tax used to pay Amazon.com Inc.’s promised $750 million incentive deal. At least not yet.
The legislature wanted to start collecting money in July 2020 to eventually pay Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). The first $40 million was going to come from the state’s internet sales tax revenue. But Northam’s revised fiscal year 2020 budget strikes that provision from the bill. Lawmakers will have an opportunity to approve or deny his amendment when they reconvene Wednesday.
While a statement released with the amendments speaks broadly about what the governor hopes for the budget, there is no explanation why Northam wants to nix the online sales tax as a funding source for Amazon’s incentive deal. In an email, a Northam spokesman would only say now wasn’t the time to set that funding aside.
“We remain committed to our incentives package as outlined in our agreement with Amazon, and will provide this funding to the company at the appropriate future…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.