OUR POINT OF VIEW

February 20. 2012 3:00AM

OUR POINT OF VIEW

Amazon not worth the price tag for small retailers

By NJBIZ Staff

New Jersey's economic development incentives have earned an interesting reputation,

following outsized awards to Panasonic, Prudential and Pearson. While you can make a case for each of these tax credits — all awarded under the lucrative Urban Transit Hub program — it was a much tougher sell when Amazon came knocking, and we're pleased that so far, cooler heads have prevailed.

We first reported the state was in talks to develop a package of incentives to get Amazon to build at least one warehouse here; reportedly, among its requests is a nearly two-year holiday on paying sales tax. That's a long time to be on holiday; just ask legislative Democrats, who've seemed to be in the Swiss Alps since Chris Christie took office two years ago.

Retailers, though, balked at the idea of giving Amazon a break, as for years, the brick-and-mortar bunch has been loudly complaining that online retailers have been able to skimp on sales-tax collection, while they have had to collect 7 percent from consumers who are increasingly doing their shopping online. That's bad for Main Streets, but just as bad for the state's coffers, which had to make Amazon's demands all the more unpalatable. The state missed its revenue projections, according to a Treasury report last month, and across the country and state, December revenue collections were said to be soft. It's probably a coincidence that holiday sales, which were up over the year before and increasingly took place online, happen in December.

If Amazon wants some kind of credit for the investment it would make in coming here, we're all for it, and while the corporate welfare crowd might boo-hoo it, that's the name of the game when it comes to attracting out-of-state firms. But it can't be an incentive that puts small retailers at a direct disadvantage. We hope the powers that be stick to their guns.