Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
theguardian.com
Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
1–10 of 78 posts
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#2It didn't pay much American tax either because it doesn't make any profits anywhere.
Lots of physical shopping chains aren't paying tax because they dont make money either.
The real question is will Amazon ever make money and at that time - will it pay taxes then?
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#3taxes aren't determined by revenue, i haven't even opened the article (yet) and it's already stunted its own impact
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#4It didn't pay much American tax either because it doesn't make any profits anywhere. Lots of physical shopping chains aren't paying tax because they dont make money either. The real question is will Amazon ever make money and at that time - will it pay taxes then?
There is also a problem of large companies making it seem like they don't make money, through complex financial montages, when in fact they do.
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#5taxes aren't determined by revenue, i haven't even opened the article (yet) and it's already stunted its own impact
That varies by jurisdiction. Gross Receipts Taxes [1] (including Washington State [2] where Amazon is headquartered) are levied against revenue and not profit.
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#6I'm all for giving Amazon flack where it's deserved. This tax witch-hunt isn't one of those cases.
2016 pre-tax income: $3.89 billion
2016 income tax: $1.43 billion
2016 income tax rate: 36.7%
That's one of the highest rates on earth.
2015: $1.57b pre-tax income. $950m income taxes. That's a 60% rate.
They don't generate much taxable income. What exactly are they supposed to be paying substantial taxes on other than that?
Should they be paying £30m (£50m?) in taxes on that £19.5 billion in European revenue instead? Ok, let's go with that, they're both meaningless figures. How is that a substantial matter to nail Amazon for (of all things) given the epic scale of tax schemes throughout Europe?
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#7I'm all for giving Amazon flack where it's deserved. This tax witch-hunt isn't one of those cases. 2016 pre-tax income: $3.89 billion 2016 income tax: $1.43 billion 2016 income tax rate: 36.7% That's one of the highest rates on earth. 2015: $1.57b pre-tax income. $950m income taxes. That's a 60% rate. They don't generate much taxable income. What exactly are they supposed to be paying substantial taxes on other than…
Sales tax?
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#8taxes aren't determined by revenue, i haven't even opened the article (yet) and it's already stunted its own impact
I don't like being rude in comments sections but that's a pretty dumb comment to make, to be honest. I don't think the writer needs any help understanding how tax bills are formulated, it's just meant to state a point. (Which you would understand if you read the article before commenting)
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#9It didn't pay much American tax either because it doesn't make any profits anywhere. Lots of physical shopping chains aren't paying tax because they dont make money either. The real question is will Amazon ever make money and at that time - will it pay taxes then?
There is also a problem of large companies making it seem like they don't make money, through complex financial montages, when in fact they do.
What does that have to do with Amazon? Their financials are public information, show me where they're hiding the massive cash production, because they must be hiding it from shareholders as well.
Amazon is still primarily a retailer, one with historically horrific margins. The segment has notoriously bad margins in general (Costco & Walmart: typical ~2% net income margins, with very high income tax rates). Then there's Amazon, spending like crazy since its inception to fund growth.
It makes perfect sense that they wouldn't be generating much in the way of profit versus their revenue.
Re: Amazon paid just £15m in tax on European revenues of £19.5bn
#10taxes aren't determined by revenue, i haven't even opened the article (yet) and it's already stunted its own impact
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