I don’t begrudge Amazon or any other company for paying as few taxes as is legally possible. I also am not in favor of unions as they are currently implemented in US law, where workers are forced to join unions and labor competition is reduced. I also think much of the media coverage of Amazon is unfairly biased against them. However, even to me, this moment where Bezos is supporting increased taxes seems highly suspicious. I simply don’t trust Bezos’s motives to suddenly support such policy.
One possibility is that he sees it as an inevitability so he might as well support it and reap some goodwill with politicians. Another possibility is that infrastructure spending (which increased taxes would fund) benefits his business disproportionately. Another possibility is that this wouldn’t hurt Amazon much but would be the final blow for struggling small and medium size businesses that can’t compete with the juggernaut tech giants. Most likely it’ll take the form of Amazon avoiding taxes by (legally) claiming credits and deferrals where possible, while smaller businesses without the same massive capital, tax avoidance opportunities, and armies of accountants/lawyers will pay the new increased tax rates here and now.
What we really need is updated anti trust laws and stringent enforcement. Where companies can’t be split up easily due to products dependent on network effects, we should regulate them like a public utility. We need to ensure healthy competitive markets.
One possibility is that he sees it as an inevitability so he might as well support it and reap some goodwill with politicians. Another possibility is that infrastructure spending (which increased taxes would fund) benefits his business disproportionately. Another possibility is that this wouldn’t hurt Amazon much but would be the final blow for struggling small and medium size businesses that can’t compete with the juggernaut tech giants. Most likely it’ll take the form of Amazon avoiding taxes by (legally) claiming credits and deferrals where possible, while smaller businesses without the same massive capital, tax avoidance opportunities, and armies of accountants/lawyers will pay the new increased tax rates here and now.
What we really need is updated anti trust laws and stringent enforcement. Where companies can’t be split up easily due to products dependent on network effects, we should regulate them like a public utility. We need to ensure healthy competitive markets.