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Trump accuses Amazon of hurting 'tax paying retailers'

It's amazing how obvious he is in his pettiness. Clearly projecting his hate of the Washington Post. It's insane how much his obsession of his media portrayal drives everything in his mind.
It's also dangerous because I believe if necessary he will turn the world to ashes to prove a point.

He is pure evil scum.
 

Shadybiz

Member
Well he's not wrong about it hurting small businesses...but it seems that he's still not quite cognizant of the fact that they DO pay taxes. Or, he's just hoping that his supporters continue to be the ignorant fucks they are, and not check the facts themselves. Either is likely.

We know why he's saying this right? He's sick of Washington Post's coverage.

Oh of course.
 

MightyKAC

Member
So rather than fix the system that (lawfully) made Amazon a giant, let's just go ahead and blame a business for being successful using the rules it was given.

Of course that big bad boogeyman corporation also happens to be a nice little distraction to point to when you need a quick distraction from your own bad press.

(At least until the next time you open your mouth and remind the world why you shouldn't be where you are that is...)
 

JettDash

Junior Member
So rather than fix the system that (lawfully) made Amazon a giant, lets just go ahead and blame a business for being successful using the rules it was given.

Of course that big bad boogeyman corporation also happens to be a nice little distraction to point to when you need a quick distraction from your own bad press.

(At least until the next time you open your mouth and remind the world why you shouldn't be where you are that is...)

The orange turd himself said on national TV during one of the debates that him using the rules to his advantage makes him smart.

He's salty that Bezos is a way better businessman than he is. And the coverage he gets in the WaPo.
 

RMI

Banned
Retail stores are pointless for most products. Just like coal, there's no reason to prop up this outdated shit.
 

tokkun

Member
I'd guess Walmart forced just as many, if not more stores and jobs to close across the country.

That may be true, but isn't it interesting that Amazon seems to have suffered much less of a backlash over it than Walmart did?

One important difference to note is that Walmart was actually bringing stores into the same areas where they were causing the mom & pop retailers to close. So the jobs that were lost were being replaced in the same communities. However with Amazon, that is not the case. They are using centralized fulfillment centers that not only significantly reduce the total number of jobs, but also relocate them. It seems like that can have much more of a devastating impact on local economies than the Walmart model.
 
well at least he's right for the wrong reasons for a change (vendetta against jeff bezos) rather than perfecting to an art form how to pick the shittest stance on an issue like he usually does.
 

jobrro

Member
It's not like you can't say this about every huge company. They all do their best to avoid taxes (which makes them smart) and being in the market while being successful will automatically mean they are hurting other companies in the market.
 

Aiii

So not worth it
Sounds like Amazon and Trump have something in common.

Both in not paying taxes and hurting others.
 

slit

Member
It's true but there is nothing to be done and anyway Trump doesn't really care about the issue at all. You can't tell people where to spend their money. They want Amazon's convenience. Amazon now charges sales tax in most places in the U.S. I know that doesn't make up for the taxes B&M stores bring in for property but shopping has evolved. That's it.
 
It's a world of difference then and explains that tax rate.

All of these major companies definitely game the system though.

Amazon is well known to use jurisdictional loopholes to avoid as much tax a possible, at least in Europe. They may well reinvest their profits but that does not make them untaxable. The amount of tax they pay in the UK is very, very low. It's not that easy to separate profit from revenue because there are all sorts of transfer pricing mechanisms in play that blur the lines. What they are doing is not necessarily illegal because tax law doesn't really work that way (tax law is often arguable) but they do use their size to gain what most people would call a grossly unfair advantage over domestic retailers and I'm sure the model is broadly the same in most jurisdictions. Overall, this is not a good thing.

Governments should be challenging these companies more but the resources Amazon have make this difficult. It's certainly not a bad thing to draw attention to this and if Trump wants to go after them in this regard, then he should be supported.

That being said, I buy everything from them LOL
 

JettDash

Junior Member
Amazon is well known to use jurisdictional loopholes to avoid as much tax a possible, at least in Europe. They may well reinvest their profits but that does not make them untaxable. The amount of tax they pay in the UK is very, very low. It's not that easy to separate profit from revenue because there are all sorts of transfer pricing mechanisms in play that blur the lines. What they are doing is not necessarily illegal because tax law doesn't really work that way (tax law is often arguable) but they do use their size to gain what most people would call a grossly unfair advantage over domestic retailers and I'm sure the model is broadly the same in most jurisdictions. Overall, this is not a good thing.

That being said, I buy everything from them LOL

That makes them smart.
 
Amazon not charging sales tax did give them an unfair advantage for a long time. But there was nothing stopping government from closing that loophole. To complain now, when they do pay sales tax everywhere is just stupid.
 

human5892

Queen of Denmark
He's not wrong, but obviously this a) isn't about that and b) isn't an interesting or surprising insight in the absence of any meaningful solution.
 
IT means they have very smart advisers but they should still be challenged. Tax law is not a question of right and wrong, it's very complex and grey but the fact remains that Amazon's approach is damaging and should be contested.
It's a Trump quote. Trump himself said that paying less taxes makes you smart.
 

slit

Member
IT means they have very smart advisers but they should still be challenged. Tax law is not a question of right and wrong, it's very complex and grey but the fact remains that Amazon's approach is damaging and should be contested.

Contested how? Are you saying Amazon should be forced to pay property tax to localities for places they have no property? If you are talking about other tax loopholes they are not any more damaging than any other major corporations approach.
 

erawsd

Member
That may be true, but isn't it interesting that Amazon seems to have suffered much less of a backlash over it than Walmart did?

One important difference to note is that Walmart was actually bringing stores into the same areas where they were causing the mom & pop retailers to close. So the jobs that were lost were being replaced in the same communities. However with Amazon, that is not the case. They are using centralized fulfillment centers that not only significantly reduce the total number of jobs, but also relocate them. It seems like that can have much more of a devastating impact on local economies than the Walmart model.

I think that's because Walmart essentially "normalized" the idea that mom and pop shops will inevitably shutdown. As much complaining as there was, very few did anything to stop it from happening. I imagine the attitude these days is more along the lines of "I'm surprised they lasted this long".
 
Contested how? Are you saying Amazon should be forced to pay property tax to localities for places they have no property? If you are talking about other tax loopholes they are not any more damaging than any other major corporations approach.

I'm talking about the abuse of multi-jurisdictional tax law inconsistencies and transfer pricing mechanisms that has the affect of shifting the tax jurisdiction of the business into a different jurisdiction, with lower or nil tax rates, to the one where the trade takes place. Other companies do do similar things but Amazon is, globally, one of the worst offenders due to the nature of the business and the the scale of the trade. They should all be challenged more than they are and the biggest ones should be challenged first.

I find it ironic that a forum that is so rabidly left-wing is so keen to hand-wave these sort of shenanigans away, which are the epitome of rapacious, damaging hyper-capitalism and Donald Trump, the white knight for right wing conservatism is the one pressing the issue. I'm sure he has is own reasons for doing so as many have pointed out, but if he takes Amazon to task, like I wish the UK government would, then does it really matter?
 

RPGCrazied

Member
He just doesn't like the owner, all this is, and just because he owns a paper that slays him on a daily basis.

And Amazon does take tax in most states.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
I'm talking about the abuse of multi-jurisdictional tax law inconsistencies and transfer pricing mechanisms that has the affect of shifting the tax jurisdiction of the business into a different jurisdiction, with lower or nil tax rates, to the one where the trade takes place. Other companies do do similar things but Amazon is, globally, one of the worst offenders due to the nature of the business and the the scale of the trade. They should all be challenged more than they are and the biggest ones should be challenged first.

I find it ironic that a forum that is so rabidly left-wing is so keen to hand-wave these sort of shenanigans away, which are the epitome of rapacious, damaging hyper-capitalism and Donald Trump, the white knight for right wing conservatism is the one pressing the issue. I'm sure he has is own reasons for doing so as many have pointed out, but if he takes Amazon to task, like I wish the UK government would, then does it really matter?

Trump doesn't actually care and he isn't going to do shit. He's just salty that a man way richer than him owns a newspaper that slams him.
 

slit

Member
I'm talking about the abuse of multi-jurisdictional tax law inconsistencies and transfer pricing mechanisms that has the affect of shifting the tax jurisdiction of the business into a different jurisdiction, with lower or nil tax rates, to the one where the trade takes place. Other companies do do similar things but Amazon is, globally, one of the worst offenders due to the nature of the business and the the scale of the trade. They should all be challenged more than they are and the biggest ones should be challenged first.

I find it ironic that a forum that is so rabidly left-wing is so keen to hand-wave these sort of shenanigans away, which are the epitome of rapacious, damaging hyper-capitalism and Donald Trump, the white knight for right wing conservatism is the one pressing the issue. I'm sure he has is own reasons for doing so as many have pointed out, but if he takes Amazon to task, like I wish the UK government would, then does it really matter?

Because I'm sick and tired of hearing about how online retailers are the bad guys when brick and mortar big box stores did the same thing to local business decades ago. Amazon is not the only online retailer that takes advantage of it because of their business model, they just happen to be the biggest. If you want gov't to clamp down on all corporations over loopholes I'm all for that. If you are going to cry because Amazon isn't a charity, sorry I disagree with that notion.
 

MilkBeard

Member
I don't agree. There's no Amazon in the country I live in now, and shit sux. Next best thing is Ali Express, which is cool, but their website is kind of bad, and deliveries take over a month.

Trump just jelly cuz Bezos.
 
He's not wrong, but Amazon's only crime is existing. Really not their fault.
This is plainly not true. Amazon are one of the biggest contributors to the BEPS problem.

I'm talking about the abuse of multi-jurisdictional tax law inconsistencies and transfer pricing mechanisms that has the affect of shifting the tax jurisdiction of the business into a different jurisdiction, with lower or nil tax rates, to the one where the trade takes place. Other companies do do similar things but Amazon is, globally, one of the worst offenders due to the nature of the business and the the scale of the trade. They should all be challenged more than they are and the biggest ones should be challenged first.

I find it ironic that a forum that is so rabidly left-wing is so keen to hand-wave these sort of shenanigans away, which are the epitome of rapacious, damaging hyper-capitalism and Donald Trump, the white knight for right wing conservatism is the one pressing the issue. I'm sure he has is own reasons for doing so as many have pointed out, but if he takes Amazon to task, like I wish the UK government would, then does it really matter?

Like he said.
 
... he bragged about dodging taxes. And now amazon is bad? Fuck off. He's just mad that the Washington Post shits on him regularly.
 
Because I'm sick and tired of hearing about how online retailers are the bad guys when brick and mortar big box stores did the same thing to local business decades ago. Amazon is not the only online retailer that takes advantage of it because of their business model, they just happen to be the biggest. If you want gov't to clamp down on all corporations over loopholes I'm all for that. If you are going to cry because Amazon isn't a charity, sorry I disagree with that notion.

Pretty sure I did say that it should be clamped down on in general, just that Amazon should be at the top of the list by dint of being the biggest and therefore most egregious tax avoider.

The difference between big stores and what amazon are doing is big stores used economies of scale. Amazon uses economies of scale and tax avoidance. They can and should be challenged.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Genie is out of the bottle so to speak.

Even with Amazon charging sales tax now there is no way to know how much they benefitted during their initial rise for not charging.

We can't exactly go back now like I said. Genie is out of the bottle.
 
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