Carson rips Ocasio-Cortez, NYC on Amazon: 'Certainly' want more logic there
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on the Trump administration's 'Opportunity Zones' program and the fallout from Amazon's decision to cancel its plans for a second headquarters in Long Island City, New York.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson questioned New York City political leaders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who led the opposition to Amazon’s plan to move its second headquarters into the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.
“We certainly would like a little more logic for the people there,” he told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney in response to whether he considered making Long Island City an opportunity zone.
“You know, interesting, when they thought that Amazon was coming, a lot of new businesses started popping up. And I don’t know what they are going to do now,” he said Thursday. “It was really a cruel joke.”
The e-commerce giant in February scrapped plans to build its New York headquarters and create 25,000 new high-paying jobs in the city after facing a slew of local opposition over its up to $3 billion worth of tax incentives from the city and state.
The opportunity zone program offers tax incentives in low-income communities in order to expand economic growth. However, Carson said it doesn’t “really pay off until it’s been there for at least five years.”
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“So you can’t leave if you want to get the benefit,” Carson added.
Carson said that there has already been more than $25 billion committed to opportunity zones.