I bet from the beginning (and still would bet!) that the winner of Amazon's absurd "woo us for a headquarters" contest was always pre-determined to be the DC metro area, even though given their own stated desires it isn't exactly a great choice. The man bought a house and a newspaper there.
A lot is made of municipalities handing over fistfuls of cash to subsidize big companies. Local taxes are generally pretty regressive (sales, flat income, property, etc.) so it's basically shifting money upwards in hopes of "trickle down." But even aside from that it stacks the deck against smaller employers.
