Amazon pays taxes, not sure how anybody still believes this piece of misinformation. You do realize it is Congress who creates the tax rules to begin with, so if anyone is at fault for the tax 'loop holes' these companies leverage, it's corrupt legislators.
"In 2017, Amazon paid close to $1 billion in income tax. In 2018, the amount jumped to $1.18 billion, accounting for local, state, and international taxes."
> "In 2017, Amazon paid close to $1 billion in income tax. In 2018, the amount jumped to $1.18 billion, accounting for local, state, and international taxes."
It leaves it out because it isn't relevant. Amazon pays no federal tax (or close to none anyway) but it pays a shitload in other taxes.
Amazon reinvests revenue into the business which is discussed tons on this site. It also has the effect of eliminating certain types of taxes... and massively increasing taxes in other areas (like sales, use, B&O, payroll, etc...). Somehow I don't see discussion of how payroll tax at Amazon is exploding, though.
One of the reasons (among many) is the expense treatment of stock based compensation was changed I believe as part of Sarbanes-Oxley. Companies are now required to expense stock given as compensation since it will have a dilutive effect on existing shareholders. Amazon issue billions of dollars in stock each year to its employees. Amazon also operates high cashflow but low margin businesses which make its net income very small. The company has emphasized free cash flow to investors for at least 20 years.
