HQ2 Employees Might Unwittingly Pay Their Taxes to Amazon

There’s a very real chance that when Amazon.com, Inc. starts hiring employees for its second headquarters, or HQ2, those employees’ state personal income taxes won’t all go to the state treasury. Billions of dollars in taxes may instead be diverted to the company, of which CEO Jeff Bezos owns 17 percent.

There are 18 states that offer this tax-diversion shell game to companies: If Amazon chooses to locate HQ2 in one of the nine finalist cities in these states, the employees will never be notified of their participation. Their pay stubs won’t show where their tax deductions have actually gone. They’ll never be asked if they consent or wish to opt out. Nor will the state’s school boards, universities or transportation agencies have any say: Their resources will be greatly eroded, yet they’ll still be expected to deliver a highly skilled workforce on time.