Amazon Will Pay Nothing On Their $11.2 Billion Dollars Of Profit From 2018
Anyone who is honest and hardworking pays their taxes to help pay for different programs and other functionalities set in place by the system.
However, if you are a company like Amazon, you get a big break on things. All of this comes from a cocktail of tax credits, loopholes, and exemptions which were set in place by corrupt individuals exploiting the system.
One report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) states that Amazon (AMZN) will pay nothing in federal income taxes for the second year in a row. Companies this large are influential and tend to dominate how things are done.
Amazon cleared $258.22 billion dollars in 2018 alone according to researchers at eMarketer. This equates to 49.1 percent of all online retail spending in the country, and 5% percent of all retail sales.
Thanks to the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Amazon’s federal tax responsibility is 21% (down from 35% in previous years). But with the help of tax breaks, according to corporate filings, Amazon won’t be paying a dime to Uncle Sam despite posting more than $11.2 billion in profits in 2018. Before this, Amazon reported $5.6 billion in U.S. profits back in 2017 and paid $0.
Amazon first started as an online bookstore, but eventually grew into a juggernaut. The companies reach continues to expand, as they swallow up smaller companies or create something to rival them. Jeff Bezos initially started the company and had a vision, he is currently worth $165.6 billion dollars.
Amazon’s e-commerce has the backbone of a strong network of third-party sellers which bring a wide range of goods to the marketplace online. Everything from groceries to fashionable items, are available to your doorstep at the press of a button. Service such as Prime offer customers more options for a price as well.
Other companies such as eBay are a distant second place at 6.6 percent, along with Apple 3.9 percent and giant retailer Walmart who is trying to expand to compete with Amazon online.
President Trump has promised new tax law, that inevitably would put a stop to loopholes like these that have been set in place. Perhaps something may be done, but it surely won’t be an easy thing to change. Meanwhile, we can all watch as Amazon continues to swallow up the world one byte at a time.
(Source: Humans Are Free and Tech Crunch)
