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Republicans in the Georgia state Senate followed through on their threats after Delta Airlines, one of the state’s top private employers, stopped giving National Rifle Association members a special discount. The state’s Senate Republicans voted down a tax break on jet fuel for flights at Atlanta’s airport, where Delta is based, and Gov. Nathan Deal will sign it, although he’s not happy:
At a press conference Wednesday, Deal said he was frustrated by the “antics” of Republicans seeking higher office and said he would still seek to salvage a tax break for Delta. But he said he couldn’t veto a measure that also amounted to a sweeping tax cut for residents.
As Georgia Republicans put the NRA ahead of a top employer, various Democrats invited Delta to move to their states. Those offers aren’t serious, since it would take years to move a major airline hub, but they help to highlight the hazards of doing business where such vindictive politicians hold power. And that could matter to other businesses, like, say, Amazon, which is considering 20 possible locations for a second headquarters:
One of those cities happens to be Atlanta, in part because of its major airport. But experts now say Georgia Republicans may have jeopardized the city’s bid with their threat to Delta.
“This could absolutely give Amazon pause,” Neeraj Arora, a marketing professor at the Wisconsin School of Business, told CNN Tech. “The company has taken a stance on social issues in the past.”
And Georgia Republicans have just served notice that their poutrage toward companies that do things they don’t like has a hair trigger.