COLUMBIA, S.C. — When word emerged that Amazon.com Inc. was hunting for new warehouse sites, leaders in this business-friendly Southern state rolled out a welcome mat of tax breaks to lure the Internet retailer.

Code-naming their effort “Project ASAP,” South Carolina officials offered up more than $33 million in incentives, including free land, a property-tax cut and payroll-tax credits. They even agreed to loosen the area’s Bible Belt moral code, repealing a decades-old Lexington County “blue law” so Amazon’s warehouse could stay open Sunday mornings.