6 ms·

Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes

29 points by zonotope 9y ago

rtx 9y ago
Fair game.
dclaw 9y ago
After literally just cutting their fucking tax rate.
- johnzim 9y ago
  Those two aren't mutually exclusive - if your aim would be to target that company specifically, changing the federal corporate tax rate would be a poor way of achieving it. What is more pertinent is how much tax they pay on overseas income and how much they repatriate.
orf 9y ago
In his own words that makes them smart, right? https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-taxes-smart/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-taxes-smart/
- fhood 9y ago
  Nobody has ever accused the man of consistency.
- x220 9y ago
  Bad people are often smart.
- peacelilly 9y ago
  Yes, which makes the Gov dumb for letting them get away with it. That's why he became president, to fix dumb things (in his opinion) in government.
  - SippinLean 9y ago
    So he's combatting the wealthy paying too little in taxes by giving major tax breaks to the wealthy?
scottmf 9y ago
That just makes Amazon “smart”.
twothamendment 9y ago
As long as they play within the rules, fair game. If Trump doesn't like the rules, don't single out a company, change the game.
- _rpd 9y ago
  Seriously, what are they supposed to do? Calculate the tax owed and then add a random amount?
- foobarbazetc 9y ago
  What rules though? If they’re not turning a profit there’s no income tax owed. Just because he lacks the ability to understand slightly complex concepts doesn’t make them “unfair”.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 9y ago
The fastest way to make a person publicly change their opinion about something is to have Trump state that opinion.
IAmEveryone 9y ago
I’m most impressed by his accusation of Amazon using the USPS as their “delivery boy”. Seriously, this guy could have had a great career in standup. It’s a great loss for the country.
- throwaway2016a 9y ago
  Made even funnier by the fact that parcels are one of the few places USPS actually makes money and has growing revenue. I've been hearing this argument (Amazon is abusing the USPS) from a ton of my far-right family / acquaintances and I'm sure these claims will just amplify it. With that said, if USPS really isn't making money on the parcels from Amazon they can and should raise their rates. And if doing that makes them no longer competitive with UPS and Fedex than so be it. That's how markets work. In the private sector it is usually illegal to sell for less than your cost to undercut competitors. An interesting analysis: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter-postal-service-feud https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter... Another interesting article that says the post office loses money on Amazon because of the capital expenditure required to ship packages. But it strikes me that eventually that cost will be paid for: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/for-every-amazon-package-it-delivers-the-postal-service-loses-146 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/for-every-amazon-package-...
slashcom 9y ago
My understanding was that Amazon, until recently, intentionally hasn’t turned any profit. You don’t have to pay taxes if you don’t make any money...
- calebm 9y ago
  Which is one reason why the high-revenue/low-profit growth strategy is so good. It feels similar to me how in chess you sacrifice pieces to capture control of the center of the board.
thibran 9y ago
Wrong country and maybe wrong company. Apple pays so few taxes in Germany – approximated 2,8% taxes on their earnings – that the public is totally pissed (but it is for incomprehensible reasons legal). World wide Apple made ~62 billion dollar last year, but paid only ~25 million tax in Germany (0,2% of the total). At the same time they sell a lot of products here, this is so wrong. I guess Amazon is not better, but the real sinner is Apple.
- Mononokay 9y ago
  Most resources say they make ~25-30 billion a year in revenue in Europe, and the idea that Germany makes up the majority of said revenue is a bit silly. Did they pay taxes on the revenue they made in Germany? If so, I'm not sure what your problem is with them? Are you saying that they, a company that owes nothing to Germany, given it wasn't helped by the country at all really in terms of benefits, talent or monetarily, should have to subsidize a country based on the fact that they're successful in other markets? If every country had that kind of a notion towards taxing, Apple would have less than 1M in profit after paying everyone taxes based on global earnings.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    > Did they pay taxes on the products they sold in Germany? VAT is a tax paid by the consumer, not vendor or manufacturer.
    - Mononokay 9y ago
      Corporate tax exists in Germany,which is what I was inferring to - although I did use unfortunate wording. I'll edit that a bit.
  - thibran 9y ago
    > Did they pay taxes on the products they sold in Germany? Almost not. > If so, I'm not sure what your problem is with them? Apple is probably the company paying fewest taxes of all companies in Germany. Normal mortals pay much much more taxes. There is a difference between paying almost no taxes, and paying the same tax as everyone else. In the end small businesses can't move their money to Cayman islands or wherever and factually circumvent the law. We have a lot of old infrastructure which needs some money, like schools: http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/lehrerverband-fordert-zehn-milliarden-euro-fuer-schulen-a-1175565.html http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/lehrerverband-fo... -> such buildings are not uncommon in certain areas. One of the biggest newspapers and one of the most prestigious in Germany (Zeit) estimated that Europe lost alone over iPhone sales in the last five years 8 billion euro taxes.
poster123 9y ago
You could argue that part of Amazon's success has been due to its helping customers evade state sales taxes. However, Trump has often talked about loosening libel laws because he thinks he is unfairly attacked by the press, and he dislikes the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos. I don't trust Trump's objectivity on this issue, to put it mildly.
- sjg007 9y ago
  This is all about the Washington Post. If it starts publishing a pro-Trump narrative he will back off.
rkrkrk21 9y ago
what's this guy's problem? He has problem with immigrants, he has problem with every other country, he has problems with people from his own administration, and now he has problems with companies that contribute to the economy..No wonders Melania always wears that fuck face everytime she has to be with him !!
- sctb 9y ago
  Please don't post like this again here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
biomodel 9y ago
And this has nothing to do with Bezos owning the Washington Post. Because Trump would never let personal animus cloud his expertly formed opinion
neo4sure 9y ago
Checkout financials https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN Please look at profitability. Who says Amazon doesn't make a profit?

29 points by zonotope 9y ago

rtx 9y ago

Fair game.

dclaw 9y ago

After literally just cutting their fucking tax rate.

johnzim 9y ago
Those two aren't mutually exclusive - if your aim would be to target that company specifically, changing the federal corporate tax rate would be a poor way of achieving it. What is more pertinent is how much tax they pay on overseas income and how much they repatriate.

orf 9y ago

In his own words that makes them smart, right? https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-taxes-smart/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-taxes-smart/

fhood 9y ago
Nobody has ever accused the man of consistency.
x220 9y ago
Bad people are often smart.
peacelilly 9y ago
Yes, which makes the Gov dumb for letting them get away with it. That's why he became president, to fix dumb things (in his opinion) in government.
- SippinLean 9y ago
  So he's combatting the wealthy paying too little in taxes by giving major tax breaks to the wealthy?

scottmf 9y ago

That just makes Amazon “smart”.

twothamendment 9y ago

As long as they play within the rules, fair game. If Trump doesn't like the rules, don't single out a company, change the game.

_rpd 9y ago
Seriously, what are they supposed to do? Calculate the tax owed and then add a random amount?
foobarbazetc 9y ago
What rules though? If they’re not turning a profit there’s no income tax owed. Just because he lacks the ability to understand slightly complex concepts doesn’t make them “unfair”.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 9y ago

The fastest way to make a person publicly change their opinion about something is to have Trump state that opinion.

IAmEveryone 9y ago

I’m most impressed by his accusation of Amazon using the USPS as their “delivery boy”. Seriously, this guy could have had a great career in standup. It’s a great loss for the country.

throwaway2016a 9y ago
Made even funnier by the fact that parcels are one of the few places USPS actually makes money and has growing revenue. I've been hearing this argument (Amazon is abusing the USPS) from a ton of my far-right family / acquaintances and I'm sure these claims will just amplify it. With that said, if USPS really isn't making money on the parcels from Amazon they can and should raise their rates. And if doing that makes them no longer competitive with UPS and Fedex than so be it. That's how markets work. In the private sector it is usually illegal to sell for less than your cost to undercut competitors. An interesting analysis: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter-postal-service-feud https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830128/amazon-trump-twitter... Another interesting article that says the post office loses money on Amazon because of the capital expenditure required to ship packages. But it strikes me that eventually that cost will be paid for: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/for-every-amazon-package-it-delivers-the-postal-service-loses-146 https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/for-every-amazon-package-...

slashcom 9y ago

My understanding was that Amazon, until recently, intentionally hasn’t turned any profit. You don’t have to pay taxes if you don’t make any money...

calebm 9y ago
Which is one reason why the high-revenue/low-profit growth strategy is so good. It feels similar to me how in chess you sacrifice pieces to capture control of the center of the board.

thibran 9y ago

Wrong country and maybe wrong company. Apple pays so few taxes in Germany – approximated 2,8% taxes on their earnings – that the public is totally pissed (but it is for incomprehensible reasons legal). World wide Apple made ~62 billion dollar last year, but paid only ~25 million tax in Germany (0,2% of the total). At the same time they sell a lot of products here, this is so wrong. I guess Amazon is not better, but the real sinner is Apple.

Mononokay 9y ago
Most resources say they make ~25-30 billion a year in revenue in Europe, and the idea that Germany makes up the majority of said revenue is a bit silly. Did they pay taxes on the revenue they made in Germany? If so, I'm not sure what your problem is with them? Are you saying that they, a company that owes nothing to Germany, given it wasn't helped by the country at all really in terms of benefits, talent or monetarily, should have to subsidize a country based on the fact that they're successful in other markets? If every country had that kind of a notion towards taxing, Apple would have less than 1M in profit after paying everyone taxes based on global earnings.
- DanBC 9y ago
  > Did they pay taxes on the products they sold in Germany? VAT is a tax paid by the consumer, not vendor or manufacturer.
  - Mononokay 9y ago
    Corporate tax exists in Germany,which is what I was inferring to - although I did use unfortunate wording. I'll edit that a bit.
- thibran 9y ago
  > Did they pay taxes on the products they sold in Germany? Almost not. > If so, I'm not sure what your problem is with them? Apple is probably the company paying fewest taxes of all companies in Germany. Normal mortals pay much much more taxes. There is a difference between paying almost no taxes, and paying the same tax as everyone else. In the end small businesses can't move their money to Cayman islands or wherever and factually circumvent the law. We have a lot of old infrastructure which needs some money, like schools: http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/lehrerverband-fordert-zehn-milliarden-euro-fuer-schulen-a-1175565.html http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/lehrerverband-fo... -> such buildings are not uncommon in certain areas. One of the biggest newspapers and one of the most prestigious in Germany (Zeit) estimated that Europe lost alone over iPhone sales in the last five years 8 billion euro taxes.

poster123 9y ago

You could argue that part of Amazon's success has been due to its helping customers evade state sales taxes. However, Trump has often talked about loosening libel laws because he thinks he is unfairly attacked by the press, and he dislikes the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos. I don't trust Trump's objectivity on this issue, to put it mildly.

sjg007 9y ago
This is all about the Washington Post. If it starts publishing a pro-Trump narrative he will back off.

rkrkrk21 9y ago

what's this guy's problem? He has problem with immigrants, he has problem with every other country, he has problems with people from his own administration, and now he has problems with companies that contribute to the economy..No wonders Melania always wears that fuck face everytime she has to be with him !!

sctb 9y ago
Please don't post like this again here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

biomodel 9y ago

And this has nothing to do with Bezos owning the Washington Post. Because Trump would never let personal animus cloud his expertly formed opinion

neo4sure 9y ago

Checkout financials https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AMZN/financials?p=AMZN Please look at profitability. Who says Amazon doesn't make a profit?