> I'm wondering why all the blame is directed at Amazon

The first step is recognizing that there's a problem.

> If the problem people have is with tax subsidies in general then isn't the government the real issue here?

Maybe the problem people have isn't with tax subsidies. Maybe their problem is who the subsidies are being given to? People are realizing that Amazon isn't a good corporate citizen, and I don't think anybody thinks Amazon needs these subsidies.

It's inevitable that tax subsidies, if available, will go to companies that can negotiate the best for them. Large enterprises have more lobbying power, and more ability to play cities against each other. So I think there's little hope of city officials finding the best corporate citizens to subsidize.

How do you design a subsidy program that actually benefits everyone if one of the criteria is likability? The more grey areas you introduce into a program like this, the more cronyism and corruption kicks in which more than likely results in an inefficient use of taxpayer money.

Cap the subsidies by revenue. A trillion dollar company doesn't need handouts, if they can't make profits on that scale of revenues they are inefficient and that capital should be re-routed elsewhere.