Aren’t the tax breaks often tied directly to the number of jobs? I believe that’s how the incentive structure for Amazon’s new NoVA headquarters works for instance.

If the company doesn’t create the job, the tax break is reduced by a certain percentage per job.

> Aren’t the tax breaks often tied directly to the number of jobs?

Usually, no, though the public justification for the tax breaks is usually in terms of expected jobs.

This is false, there are almost always specific job number requirements that must be met to be eligible for tax credits or the credits are tightly tied to hiring. The Joliet, IL Amazon warehouse incentive deal is a typical example. Amazon can credit employee withholding taxes against corporate income tax. If there are no employees hired, then there is no withholding tax, and no tax credit.

Or the penalty is "cheap" aka worth it.

All of these situations are unique, but most of the time the benefits are awarded on a per job basis. So if the plan is to hire 2000 people, the reward will end up being divyied out depending on how many of the 2000 people are hired.