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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Supports Corporate Tax Hike

By Michelle Jones. Originally published at ValueWalk.

nasdaq:amzn

Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos supports raising taxes on corporations, but it seems he might not support the entire infrastructure bill that includes the tax hike. In a statement, Bezos said Amazon supports “the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure.”

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However, he also pointed out that there will have to be “concessions from all sides” to get it done.

Amazon supports corporate tax hike

Bezos noted that Republicans and Democrats have both supported infrastructure in the past, and he feels “it’s the right time to work together to make this happen.”

“We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for,” he said. “We look forward to Congress and the Administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances U.S. competitiveness.”

He also explicitly stated that Amazon is “supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate.” The White House wants to raise the corporate tax rate from its current level at 21% to pay for a $2 trillion infrastructure package.

How much will a tax hike really affect Amazon?

It comes as a surprise that Bezos would support a corporate tax hike, given that the company has been accused of dodging taxes before. Of course, given how Amazon has been able to avoid paying much in taxes, it stands to reason that a corporate tax hike might not affect the online retailer all that much — unless some major changes are made to the tax code.

CNN notes that in 2019 before hitting the campaign trail, President Joe Biden called out Amazon for using deductions and tax credits to reduce its tax liability. Amazon responded by saying that it pays “every penny” it owes and that it had paid $2.6 billion in corporate taxes since 2016.

While on the campaign trail, Biden called on the online retailer to “start paying their taxes,” but the company maintains that it follows all tax laws.

Amazon has also faced off with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted last month, “Giant corporations like Amazon report huge profits to their shareholders — but they exploit loopholes and tax havens to pay close to nothing in taxes. That’s just not right.”

Amazon’s response

The company responded by saying that Warren makes the tax laws, and it just follows them.

“If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them. Here are the facts: Amazon has paid billions of dollars in corporate taxes over the past few years alone.”

According to CNN, for the 2017 and 2018 tax years, Amazon’s financial filings reveal that it expected to receive a refund from the federal government. For 2019, the online retailer said it owed over $1 billion in income tax, but experts said that didn’t amount to much more than 1% of its total profits. For 2020, Amazon paid $1.7 billion in taxes on $21.3 billion in net income.

Amazon is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders’ families.

The post Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Supports Corporate Tax Hike appeared first on ValueWalk.

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