Three Steps to Avoid a Tax Disaster
JetBlue(JBLU) announced Monday that it loves New York too much to take off for Florida.
How much does JetBlue love New York?
Easy, $10 million of tax breaks and public assistance worth. Oh, and a joint branding deal for the iconic "I Love NY" logo to boot.
The airline said Monday it will keep its corporate headquarters in Queens, N.Y., instead of relocating to Orlando, Fla. JetBlue has been mulling a move for over a year, with the lead candidate being Orlando, the site of its training facility.
JetBlue is the only airline based in the Empire State and is now the biggest carrier at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The airline's first flight took off from JFK on Feb. 11, 2000.
Nostalgia, however, was not what kept JetBlue from taking up residence near Disney World. Nor was it an affinity for Woody Allen movies, Broadway shows, the New York Yankees or the world's best bagels.
No, it turns out what really kept JetBlue, which bills itself as "New York's Hometown Airline," in its hometown is a healthy schmear of taxpayer subsidies. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who just happens to be richer than Scrooge McDuck himself, said the city will invest up to $3 million in the airline's Kennedy Airport Terminal, on top of a $7 million tax exemption. In return, JetBlue said it will stay put and create up to 200 new jobs in the city over the next five years.
We say that's a lot of taxpayer dollars at risk for a Mickey Mouse number of jobs generated. And if corporations keep playing municipalities against each other like this, things are going to get downright Goofy.
Dumb-o-meter score: 75 -- JetBlue took a $10 million bite out of the Big Apple.
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