6 ms·

What areas of the tax code do you think that Amazon is taking advantage of? What "ridiculous loopholes" do you think are problems in this specific case?

by harryh 8y ago

ashelmire 8y ago
Turning a large profit and not paying taxes? That part?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Operyl 8y ago
  They're following the code, it's written in law. If they didn't take advantage of it, their stockholders would be pissed.
  - ashelmire 8y ago
    thatsthepoint.jpg The problem is that our tax laws allow immense, profitable corporations to pay nothing in federal taxes despite using massive amount of federally funded infrastructure in their course of doing business. How much burden do all those delivery trucks put on our federally funded roadways, bridges, and environment? And that's just the start of it...
- umanwizard 8y ago
  Which specific sections of the tax code do you think should be repealed or amended?
  - komali2 8y ago
    If I knew the answer to that, I would also be paying 0 in tax. I'm allowed to be upset at the fact that it's possible, without knowing how they do it.
    - kyleblarson 8y ago
      Well approximately 45% of Americans pay no federal income tax.
      - ashelmire 8y ago
        The 45% that are disabled, retired, unemployed, or who make barely enough to live? Who cares that they pay nothing. How many citizens have $10B in annual income and pay nothing in taxes? The effective tax rate for the top 1% of citizens is about 30%... what do you think it is for the top 1% of corporations?
    - umanwizard 8y ago
      So, given that you admit to not understanding the details of Amazon's accounting practices, how can you be so sure that what they're doing is wrong or bad?
      - komali2 8y ago
        We're in the thread I started, where I lauded them for taking advantage of tax loopholes to not pay any tax. So, I'd be interested in why you believe I think what Amazon is doing is wrong. What I don't like is that companies are allowed to do this at all - I support more government sponsored measures such as universal healthcare and education, far greater investment in sciences, etc, and I believe corporations paying higher tax rates is a fantastic way to pay for these things.
  - ashelmire 8y ago
    The entirety of the tax code that allows them to pay under 20% of their profit in taxes.
    - umanwizard 8y ago
      Can you cite any specific sections? Just one example!
      - ashelmire 8y ago
        I don't like to engage with such obvious trolling. I'm not a tax accountant (thankfully), so I don't memorize the tax code, nor am I familiar with Amazon's tax filings. Sure, I could spend several hours looking through their filings and the federal codes to cite specific examples, but I have better things to do. But I think a company that earns $10B in profit should be paying taxes. Period. And I bet most Americans would agree with me. And I will vote for those who agree with me. I'd rather see a flat tax with no exemptions on income.
        umanwizard 8y ago
        Actually I am being serious, not trolling. To make my point more clearly -- I think accounting is too complicated to reduce to simple populist sound-bytes like "companies with X income should pay Y tax". I also think it's plausible that there are good reasons for some or all of the deductions Amazon is taking advantage of. That might not turn out to be the case, but it's impossible to know in advance without knowing what those deductions are.
        ashelmire 8y ago
        Corporate income tax accounts for a whopping 9% of federal taxes for 2017. It's projected at 7% for 2019. Pathetic. Historically, this tax as a percentage of GDP is pretty low: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/corporate-income-tax-share-gdp-1946-2015 https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/corporate-income-.... Those "good reasons" appear to be "because our representatives like to keep their paychecks coming and fashion the tax code in a way favorable to corporations". You can complain about "populist sound-bytes" all you'd like, but it's absurd for a company to use so many public resources and pay nothing.
jachee 8y ago
Just for interesting discussion: What kind of reasonable activity would you suggest would fairly negate a corporation's tax obligation? I.e. What can corporations do with their money—instead of giving it to the government—that would benefit the people as much or more than actually giving it to the government.
- EpicEng 8y ago
  Reinvesting in said company for one, which is why carry over debt is deductible.
  - jachee 8y ago
    Sure, but how does that benefit the people of the U.S.?
    - EpicEng 8y ago
      How does growing a business benefit citizens? Jobs, economic stimulus, eventually larger taxes would be the obvious three. If you start disincentivizing reinvestment then, well... growth will slow. Same goes for losses. A calendar year is an arbitrary delineation of time. If your business loses $100 in one year and brings in $100 in revenue the next, do you really want them to pay taxes on said revenue? Seems a bit unfair, no? In a two year period they broke even, and that's not even considering what profits they may or may not have made. We want people to grow their businesses because it's generally good for everyone. Similarly, we tax profits, not revenue, because if we did the former companies would simply cut costs at every opportunity and never put money back in.
      - jachee 8y ago
        Sounds a lot like Trickle Down Economics, which has been disproven time and again. Also: if amazon’s profit is double what it was last year, shouldn’t that profit be taxed? If they never pay taxes and continue exploiting labor, aren’t they a net drain on society?

What areas of the tax code do you think that Amazon is taking advantage of? What "ridiculous loopholes" do you think are problems in this specific case?

by harryh 8y ago

What areas of the tax code do you think that Amazon is taking advantage of? What "ridiculous loopholes" do you think are problems in this specific case?

ashelmire 8y ago

Turning a large profit and not paying taxes? That part?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Operyl 8y ago
They're following the code, it's written in law. If they didn't take advantage of it, their stockholders would be pissed.
- ashelmire 8y ago
  thatsthepoint.jpg The problem is that our tax laws allow immense, profitable corporations to pay nothing in federal taxes despite using massive amount of federally funded infrastructure in their course of doing business. How much burden do all those delivery trucks put on our federally funded roadways, bridges, and environment? And that's just the start of it...
umanwizard 8y ago
Which specific sections of the tax code do you think should be repealed or amended?
- komali2 8y ago
  If I knew the answer to that, I would also be paying 0 in tax. I'm allowed to be upset at the fact that it's possible, without knowing how they do it.
  - kyleblarson 8y ago
    Well approximately 45% of Americans pay no federal income tax.
    - ashelmire 8y ago
      The 45% that are disabled, retired, unemployed, or who make barely enough to live? Who cares that they pay nothing. How many citizens have $10B in annual income and pay nothing in taxes? The effective tax rate for the top 1% of citizens is about 30%... what do you think it is for the top 1% of corporations?
  - umanwizard 8y ago
    So, given that you admit to not understanding the details of Amazon's accounting practices, how can you be so sure that what they're doing is wrong or bad?
    - komali2 8y ago
      We're in the thread I started, where I lauded them for taking advantage of tax loopholes to not pay any tax. So, I'd be interested in why you believe I think what Amazon is doing is wrong. What I don't like is that companies are allowed to do this at all - I support more government sponsored measures such as universal healthcare and education, far greater investment in sciences, etc, and I believe corporations paying higher tax rates is a fantastic way to pay for these things.
- ashelmire 8y ago
  The entirety of the tax code that allows them to pay under 20% of their profit in taxes.
  - umanwizard 8y ago
    Can you cite any specific sections? Just one example!
    - ashelmire 8y ago
      I don't like to engage with such obvious trolling. I'm not a tax accountant (thankfully), so I don't memorize the tax code, nor am I familiar with Amazon's tax filings. Sure, I could spend several hours looking through their filings and the federal codes to cite specific examples, but I have better things to do. But I think a company that earns $10B in profit should be paying taxes. Period. And I bet most Americans would agree with me. And I will vote for those who agree with me. I'd rather see a flat tax with no exemptions on income.
      - umanwizard 8y ago
        Actually I am being serious, not trolling. To make my point more clearly -- I think accounting is too complicated to reduce to simple populist sound-bytes like "companies with X income should pay Y tax". I also think it's plausible that there are good reasons for some or all of the deductions Amazon is taking advantage of. That might not turn out to be the case, but it's impossible to know in advance without knowing what those deductions are.
        ashelmire 8y ago
        Corporate income tax accounts for a whopping 9% of federal taxes for 2017. It's projected at 7% for 2019. Pathetic. Historically, this tax as a percentage of GDP is pretty low: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/corporate-income-tax-share-gdp-1946-2015 https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/corporate-income-.... Those "good reasons" appear to be "because our representatives like to keep their paychecks coming and fashion the tax code in a way favorable to corporations". You can complain about "populist sound-bytes" all you'd like, but it's absurd for a company to use so many public resources and pay nothing.

jachee 8y ago

Just for interesting discussion: What kind of reasonable activity would you suggest would fairly negate a corporation's tax obligation? I.e. What can corporations do with their money—instead of giving it to the government—that would benefit the people as much or more than actually giving it to the government.

EpicEng 8y ago
Reinvesting in said company for one, which is why carry over debt is deductible.
- jachee 8y ago
  Sure, but how does that benefit the people of the U.S.?
  - EpicEng 8y ago
    How does growing a business benefit citizens? Jobs, economic stimulus, eventually larger taxes would be the obvious three. If you start disincentivizing reinvestment then, well... growth will slow. Same goes for losses. A calendar year is an arbitrary delineation of time. If your business loses $100 in one year and brings in $100 in revenue the next, do you really want them to pay taxes on said revenue? Seems a bit unfair, no? In a two year period they broke even, and that's not even considering what profits they may or may not have made. We want people to grow their businesses because it's generally good for everyone. Similarly, we tax profits, not revenue, because if we did the former companies would simply cut costs at every opportunity and never put money back in.
    - jachee 8y ago
      Sounds a lot like Trickle Down Economics, which has been disproven time and again. Also: if amazon’s profit is double what it was last year, shouldn’t that profit be taxed? If they never pay taxes and continue exploiting labor, aren’t they a net drain on society?