First, I have seen no actual evidence of tax evasion. You may fault them because they have taken advantage of various tax loopholes that were written into law, but that is not Amazon’s fault, nor does it constitute an ethical violation. Take it up with your Congressman, or municipal leaders. It is entirely understandable that in an effort to make a profit, a company would make use of existing tax breaks.
As far as the taxes, what’s being reported as “evasion” (at least the in the US this week; I don’t know about the European) is bog-standard US tax law. When your business expenses for the year exceed your income, you can deduct that loss from next year’s income (you actually have a fixed number of years for this).
Yes, I too am not a big fan of corporate welfare, but Amazon doesn’t pass legislature. Tax laws are passed by elected officials at the municipal, state, and national levels. If you consider corporate welfare to be unethical, then the people passing the laws offering those benefits are the ones who are engaging in unethical practices.
Again, Amazon has paid all the taxes that it is obligated to pay under law, and takes advantage of any available tax exemptions that it is afforded by law, just as you do when paying your personal income taxes. So again, the burden of unethical practice would be on our elected legislators.
That is fine, but again, the vast majority of people working for Amazon like working for the company. So for example, Amazon received a 74% recommendation rate from people who have worked for the company on Glassdoor.com. If a worker doesn’t like working there, they are engaged in a mutual and voluntary relationship, and they are free to quit. I have worked in the logistics and warehouse industry before, so I am very familiar with this industry as well as what are reasonable working conditions for the operational task they perform.
Right, and to my knowledge, Amazon is not an abortion provider, nor have they created legislation to allow for abortion. Blame your legislators for that, and perhaps our courts for very spurious interpretations of the Constitution.
I don’t think it’s even avoidance (again, US).
Gregory v. Helvering , 69 F.2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934)
To clarify, I’m speaking in lay language and not legal terms. Amazon made its presence in NYC conditional on $3B in “government incentives” - including the avoidance municipal taxes - and threatened to pull out Seattle when faced with the prospect of paying taxes to help the homeless. Learned Hand’s opinion notwithstanding, it’s small businesses and middle class families that shoulder the surplus burden
I’ll surmise that the vast majority don’t work in the warehouse.
Glassdoor does not provide a reliable or accurate sampling method. It is voluntary without any ability to verify reviewers.
It’s not a “personal preference.” This isn’t chocolate-vs.-vanilla ice cream that we’re discussing. I am claiming that it is unethical to lobby city governments for excessive tax breaks as a condition of locating there.
Who do you think lobbied for those policies in the first place? I’ll give you a hint. It isn’t Mother Theresa. Amazon Spends Company Record on U.S. Lobbying in 2018: Filing
Whether as an economist, civil libertarian, or concerned citizen, I’m opposed to those. So much so, that the federal government should forbid them.
Amazon does have a bit of reputation for overworking even their tech workers. From what I hear, companies like Tesla and Netflix are still worse,* but Amazon’s influence means that the spotlight tends to be on them more.
I don’t boycott Amazon. I just never got sucked in to begin with. I’ve always found it a bit weird how people talk like they depend on Amazon now, because for me they seem more like a last resort when I can no longer find something in a store (happens from time to time). I’m actually a bit more interested in AWS than their retail.
It’s also worth noting that, from what I’ve heard, Amazon has some really good compensation, perks, and vertical movement. People will tolerate a lot if you give them those, but it doesn’t make Amazon a great place to work. It’s just a great place to reach financial and career goals, even if you’re stressed out a lot.
Again, do you have any evidence of corruption or misconduct, or are you simply making unsubstantiated speculation based on the fact that you don’t like Amazon? If you don’t like Amazon that is fine, but if all you are doing is offering unsubstantiated gossip, then consider yourself guilty of breaking the 8th Commandment.
Yes, we call that gossip when there is no evidence of actual wrongdoing which you yourself already admitted you do not have.
Taking advantage of a tax loophole that was legislated into existence by due process of law does not constitute tax evasion. Tax evasion involves the intentional misreporting of assets and earnings in order to deceive the authorities. And again, to date, there have been no cases of tax evasion against Amazon. If you have a court ruling that demonstrates otherwise, feel free to post it.