Amazon reprimands Biden, offers a lesson on the tax code after a dispute with Warren



[ad_1]

Amazon publicly criticized Joe Biden on Thursday in a fiery article on Twitter after the former vice president claimed that the company would pay more taxes because it "made billions of dollars in profits."

Biden became the second prominent Democrat to endure the wrath of Amazon's social media recently, after the company's meeting with Elizabeth Warren in April. Thursday's public debate was all the more remarkable as Jay Carney, vice president of global affairs for Amazon, was Biden's director of communications for three years before becoming the president's press secretary. Obama at the White House.

"I have nothing against Amazon, but no company making billions of dollars in profit should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers," Biden wrote on Twitter, referring to a New York Times article on the subject. "We must reward work, not just wealth."

THE ASSISTANT ALEXA VOICE OF AMAZON ILLEGALLY RECORD CHILDREN WITHOUT CONSENT, CLAIMS ON THE RIGHT

The Times article focused on the GOP-led tax bill, which lowered the corporate tax rate to 21%, as well as the ability of dozens of highly profitable companies like Amazon to avoid paying any federal income tax. These companies do not pay any federal income tax in part because they can amortize certain expenses, including capital investments.

Tax cuts for research and development are particularly high at Amazon. The company said it also benefited by paying employees with shares and using what is called "tax loss carry forwards", which means that years of low profitability can then be used to offset taxes in times of high profitability.

Amazon, responding to Biden, pointed out that federal income taxes did not tell the whole story – and offered Biden a lesson on how the tax laws ended up as they were.

"We have paid $ 2.6 billion in corporate taxes since 2016," replied Amazon's Twitter account. "We pay every penny we owe.The tax laws designed by Congress encourage businesses to reinvest in the US economy.We have $ 200 billion in investment since 2011 and 300,000 US jobs. VP Biden's complaint is about the tax code, not Amazon. "

In a separate statement provided to The Hill, a spokeswoman for Amazon explained, "Amazon pays all the taxes we have to pay in the United States and in every country where we operate, including a tax on corporations $ 2.6 billion and a tax expenditure of $ 3.4 billion on The government has designed a tax law to encourage businesses of all sizes to invest in the US economy to stimulate growth and create jobs. "

WARREN FIGHT AGAINST AMAZON, THE COMPANY ACCUSED OF DELIBERATE INFORMATION

Before taxes, Amazon realized profits of about $ 11 billion in 2018 and had benefited from a tax cut of nearly $ 130 million from the federal government.

Some renowned Democrats, including Warren, have called for the dissolution of Amazon and other tech giants, in part because their huge capital allows them to endure long periods of low profitability to chase their competitors .

In April, Warren openly discussed with Amazon in a series of sharp tweets, just hours after confessing, at a televised public meeting on national television, that she was still shopping at the giant's e-commerce.

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the D-Mass., Called for the dissolution of Amazon. (AP Photo / Robert F. Bukaty)

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the D-Mass., Called for the dissolution of Amazon. (AP Photo / Robert F. Bukaty)

Warren began the debate by reiterating his argument that Amazon is abusing its control of Amazon Marketplace, which hosts third-party vendors, to improve its own retail operations and unfairly disadvantage third-party sellers.

"Giant technology companies have too much power," Warren wrote, incorporating an excerpt from his remarks to the mayor. "My #BreakUpBigTech plan prevents companies like Amazon from harming the rest of the competition – you can be a referee or a player – but you can not be both."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In response, the official Twitter account of Amazon News wrote that third-party sellers were doing better than ever.

"[S]The ellers are not "eliminated". They record record sales every year, "said Amazon, after denying the use of third-party vendor data to improve its own products." In addition, Walmart is much bigger; Amazon represents less than 4% of the US retail business. "

"Oh my boy," Warren replied.

In addition to Amazon, Warren had previously said he wanted to break Google, Facebook and Apple.

[ad_2]

Source link