LivingSocial Gets A $23 Million Tax Break

Sites include livingsocial.com . Published on July 8th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

In an age when even the middle class is suffering, a tax break of any magnitude is going to raise alarm. All the more reason, then, that one publication is calling the $23 million tax break awarded to LivingSocial ‘Outrageous’.

The very handsome tax break is coming from the Washington D.C. City Council who fears that the city may lose LivingSocial and the benefits it brings to operating in the area. The council therefore decided that a $23 million tax break might entice the company to build another office in D.C., thus keeping the jobs etc. that come with such a move.

Presently LivingSocial has a payroll of around 5,000 people, only a fifth of which actually work in the D.C. area. In many respects therefore, the move is less about keeping jobs and more about getting a few more folks hired. The debate is whether such a huge tax break should be given; many argue that LivingSocial can stand on its own two feet and is doing very well as the second largest daily deals company online.

The tax breaks wouldn’t kick-in until 2015 and so the debate looks likely to continue over whether the proposal should go through. Whether LivingSocial will even consider taking up the offer is another entirely and the company is yet to chime in publicly on the issue.