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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden disinterested Thursday of the federal tax bill of Amazon.com's e-commerce giant in 2018 and said that no company generates billions of profits. should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers.
PHOTO FILE: Democratic 2020, US presidential candidate and former vice president, Joe Biden, speaking at an event at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport, Iowa, USA. United, June 11, 2019. REUTERS / Jordan Gale
"I have nothing against Amazon, but no company making billions of dollars in profit should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers. We need to reward work, not just wealth, "said Biden in a tweet.
The remark of the former US Vice President comes at a time when Amazon has been repeatedly criticized for not paying any US federal income tax of more than $ 11 billion in pre-tax profits in 2018.
The company also received a $ 129 million tax refund from the federal government.
Amazon replied in a tweet that it had paid $ 2.6 billion in corporate taxes since 2016.
"We pay every penny we owe," Amazon said, adding, "The tax laws designed by Congress encourage businesses to reinvest in the US economy. We have."
Amazon said it has invested $ 200 billion since 2011 and created 300,000 jobs in the United States.
"Suppose VP Biden's complaint concerns the tax code, not Amazon," the company tweeted.
Amazon told Reuters in May that its low tax burden came mainly from stock-based employee compensation, the Republican tax cuts of 2017, postpone the losses of years when the company did not. Was not profitable and tax credits for massive investments in R & D.
Biden is not the first Democratic presidential candidate to call Amazon on his taxes.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said that Amazon was paying nothing in federal taxes, which was "a shame," and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said she would tax Amazon's profits so that the largest American companies do not pay any income tax.
Political control also comes when antitrust regulators have put the Seattle-based company under the watch of the Federal Trade Commission, which is preparing to determine whether Amazon has abusively used its huge market power.
Report by Nandita Bose in Washington, edited by G Crosse
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