WEBVTT - 04: Amazon's Billion Dollar Tax Avoidance

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<v Speaker 1>I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>customer because you guys paid progress. You guys paid problems.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Megacorp, an investigative podcast exposing some of the

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<v Speaker 1>world's most unethical corporations. This series is about Amazon. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Jake Hanrahan, journalists and documentary filmmaker. Mega Corp is produced

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<v Speaker 1>by H eleven for cool Zone Media. In this episode,

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to be stepping out of the warehouse and

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<v Speaker 1>taking a look at Amazon's financial situation. So as we

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<v Speaker 1>already know, they're making an unbelievable amount of money, specifically

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<v Speaker 1>since COVID hit. So let's start by taking a look

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<v Speaker 1>at their corporation to x in Europe. Last year, Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>made forty four billion euros in sales income in Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>That's thirty eight billion pounds and fifty billion dollars. I

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<v Speaker 1>guess how much corporation tax they paid? Fuckal corporate tax

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<v Speaker 1>is spased not on revenue but on profit. Amazon was

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<v Speaker 1>able to claim that they didn't make any profit. Quite

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<v Speaker 1>the contrary, they actually had some losses. It's unclear at

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<v Speaker 1>this point where those profits are generated, where those profits

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<v Speaker 1>are registered. At the moment, it's quite opack and it's

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<v Speaker 1>quite complicated. Amazon, which has been in Luxembourg since two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand three, has a very nice arrangement with Luxembourg. At

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<v Speaker 1>the time when it was under former Commission President johnkla Junker,

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<v Speaker 1>they were able to pass some sweet deal. This deal

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<v Speaker 1>remains unclear in many aspects. Luxembourg is known for being

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<v Speaker 1>a country that offers quite good tack incentives, quite good

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<v Speaker 1>financial incentives for companies like Amazon. If you're not from

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<v Speaker 1>the UK or Europe, where you're just not familiar, you

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<v Speaker 1>might not know what corporation tax is. So let me

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<v Speaker 1>just explain it briefly. The best description I've seen so

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<v Speaker 1>far is from the WHICH website. That's w H I

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<v Speaker 1>c H not which like sorcery WHICH, WHICH is a

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<v Speaker 1>nonprofit consumer protection organization here in the UK. They do

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<v Speaker 1>some great work. So here's what they say about corporation tax. Quote.

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<v Speaker 1>Corporation tax is paid by businesses in the UK and

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<v Speaker 1>is calculated on their annual profits in a similar way

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<v Speaker 1>to income tax for individuals. The corporation tax rate has

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<v Speaker 1>been for all limited companies since April twenties sixteen. Prior

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<v Speaker 1>to this, the rate varied depending on the company's profits.

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<v Speaker 1>Unlike in the visuals, companies don't receive any kind of

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<v Speaker 1>tax free allowance and therefore all profits are taxable. However,

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<v Speaker 1>there are a number of expenses and deductions that can

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<v Speaker 1>be claimed to reduce your bill end quote. Now that

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<v Speaker 1>last sentence is where companies with a lot of money

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<v Speaker 1>can really go to town on how little tax they pay.

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<v Speaker 1>So to put this Amazon Corporation tax situation into perspective

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<v Speaker 1>and to really emphasize how infuriating it is, I thought,

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<v Speaker 1>why not get a little personal. Basically, I'm going to

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<v Speaker 1>use myself as an example for a minute. So I

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<v Speaker 1>run a small media business. It consists of several different

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<v Speaker 1>projects under the umbrella of my limited company that is

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<v Speaker 1>popular front this series Megacorp, another series I've done que Clearance,

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<v Speaker 1>various different projects in video documentary as well. It's all

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<v Speaker 1>above board. Everything is registered here in the UK. I

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<v Speaker 1>don't have any full time staff as I can't afford it,

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<v Speaker 1>so anyone that works for me on any project does

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<v Speaker 1>so on a freelance basis. Also, let me just say this,

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<v Speaker 1>due to Britain's outrageous house prices and admittedly my bad

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<v Speaker 1>credit score because when I was a youth, I was

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<v Speaker 1>an absolute idiot. I don't have enough money to be

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<v Speaker 1>able to buy my own house right now. I've been

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<v Speaker 1>renting since I moved out when I was fifteen years old,

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<v Speaker 1>and I'm now thirty one. Now you might think, what

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<v Speaker 1>has that got to do with anything, Well, it's just

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit more as salt in the wound when

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<v Speaker 1>you hear that hour was the Bezos ball in a

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<v Speaker 1>minute now? Anyway, don't get me wrong, I am not

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<v Speaker 1>in a bad situation at all at all. But bearing

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<v Speaker 1>all this in mind, you can imagine how annoying it

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<v Speaker 1>is knowing that I paid more corporation tax in than

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon did, a company with one point three million staff

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<v Speaker 1>and a net profit last year of three hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>eighties six billion dollars. Or in regards to the house,

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<v Speaker 1>Bezos brought another house last year and it cost him

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred and seventy five million dollars. Now, you might

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<v Speaker 1>be listening to this bit thinking, Jake, you sound kind

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<v Speaker 1>of bitter here. Well, yeah, I am. Let me be honest,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not against people making money, and I don't think

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<v Speaker 1>all rich people should be cast off into the sea

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<v Speaker 1>or whatever. It is. A lot of the online radicals believe.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you're making insane profits off the back of

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<v Speaker 1>a workforce that we now know being treated awfully, I

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<v Speaker 1>think the absolute very least you can do is payback

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<v Speaker 1>into the country by accepting that you must pay the

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<v Speaker 1>correct tax. Now, don't get me wrong, I am definitely

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<v Speaker 1>not a big fan of any state, and I am

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<v Speaker 1>certainly not a fan of my government here in the UK.

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<v Speaker 1>But this is the way things are, Honestly, Sadly, they're

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<v Speaker 1>just not changing. If you're a mega rich corporation making

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<v Speaker 1>money under these conditions, you should have to pay the

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<v Speaker 1>proper tax under these conditions. Why Well, because if you,

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<v Speaker 1>or me, or your average man and woman on the

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<v Speaker 1>street earning normal money don't pay their taxes, we go

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<v Speaker 1>to prison. Your average man or woman is just not

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<v Speaker 1>rich enough to higher top of the range accountant firms

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<v Speaker 1>that help you dodge tax. Clearly, Amazon is I say

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<v Speaker 1>this because what they're doing is actually perfectly legal. Now.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know about you, but for me, that makes

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<v Speaker 1>it all the more frustrating. Clearly, the system as a

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<v Speaker 1>whole is morally bankrupt. Europe has become a playground for

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<v Speaker 1>mega corporations. They're able to do acrobatics with their tax

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<v Speaker 1>payments because they afford to make it work for them.

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<v Speaker 1>You might just say, oh, well that's business. Well, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that is business. But at the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 1>people are getting harmed, people are getting abused, while these

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<v Speaker 1>businesses pay us fuck all back into the country. That is,

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<v Speaker 1>companies like Amazon willingly abused their most important workers were

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<v Speaker 1>paying as little as possible back into the country where

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<v Speaker 1>they live, the country where they make money off of. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess it's all about economics and politics at this stage,

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<v Speaker 1>but personally that doesn't sit right with me. Unfortunately though,

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<v Speaker 1>when it comes to numbers, I am an absolute dunce.

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<v Speaker 1>So I thought, why not talk to someone that does

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<v Speaker 1>understand all of this a lot better than I do,

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<v Speaker 1>an accountant. This is what accountant and writer Adam James

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<v Speaker 1>Pollock had to say about Amazon. Amazon UK have their

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<v Speaker 1>own distribution service called amams on UK services and though

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<v Speaker 1>the pre tax profits increase, the tax bills have been

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<v Speaker 1>falling over the past couple of years. So of the

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<v Speaker 1>thing is Amazon can get around this by paying certain

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<v Speaker 1>employees and shares as a form of something called equity compensation.

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<v Speaker 1>And as an employee, you know if your mid level

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<v Speaker 1>managerial upwards, you can get paid through shares through like

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<v Speaker 1>for example, the UK Government's Share and Center Plan, and

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<v Speaker 1>for employees it's kind of beneficial as well because you

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<v Speaker 1>can keep the shares in this for five years, you

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<v Speaker 1>don't pay any income tax or national insurance on them,

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<v Speaker 1>so it kind of helps you out there, and then

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<v Speaker 1>if you sell them as well, you don't pay any

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<v Speaker 1>capital gains tax. But obviously this helps Amazon as well

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<v Speaker 1>because they can count as an expense so on their

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<v Speaker 1>balance sheet they can offset that against their corporation tax.

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<v Speaker 1>So even though they're paying their employees employees making money,

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon's making money, nothing's getting done the tax there. So

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<v Speaker 1>in the UK employees can give up to thirty six

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<v Speaker 1>hundred pounds worth of free shares per employee per year.

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<v Speaker 1>So these shares are in Amazon's global corporation, Amazon Inc.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not the UK a company. So these are increasing

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<v Speaker 1>on like a drastic rate over the past couple of years.

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<v Speaker 1>So again upper managerial level has been helped out so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon is being helped out so much, and the people

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<v Speaker 1>that are losing out as usual is the general public.

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<v Speaker 1>Since in the UK h m r C can collect

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<v Speaker 1>on it and the lower level workers who can be

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<v Speaker 1>concerted in this way, so they still have to pay

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<v Speaker 1>national insurance all that sort of stuff. And Luxembourg has

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<v Speaker 1>something to do with this, right from what I was reading. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>so tax paid on the UK profits isn't actually publicly

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<v Speaker 1>available information because UK customers are booked through the UK

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<v Speaker 1>based branch off a Luxembourg based Amazon company which handled

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<v Speaker 1>lots of European you know branches, so France, I think

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<v Speaker 1>Spain as well. That Luxembourg subsidiary is technically a loss

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<v Speaker 1>making company because it has process work can carry forward

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<v Speaker 1>these losses over several years and if you're not booked

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<v Speaker 1>as making a profit it you can't actually pay tax

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<v Speaker 1>on it. If you if you're making losses, there's nothing

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<v Speaker 1>that they can tax there because the taxes paid in profit,

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<v Speaker 1>not on sales, so you know they're selling loads of

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<v Speaker 1>stuff as they do, they still can't get taxed on it.

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<v Speaker 1>But as well as that, there's something like called the

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<v Speaker 1>independent entity principle, and through that subsidiaries like say for

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<v Speaker 1>example Amazon Web Services based in the UK that yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like kind of a separate company, so they are

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<v Speaker 1>viewed in legalizes only providing support services to Amazon, rather

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<v Speaker 1>than actually being a part of the company, there are

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<v Speaker 1>separate entity so it's not viewed as an Amazon company.

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<v Speaker 1>It's viewed as like just any service providing company. So

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<v Speaker 1>that means that they can apply a principle, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's one sided method to determine appropriate tax or profit

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<v Speaker 1>taking this subsidiary in isolation from the group, and it

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<v Speaker 1>applies a benchmark rate based on things such as operating costs.

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<v Speaker 1>So for Amazon in the industry it's in you've got

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<v Speaker 1>services such as warehousing and delivery and marketing. They're all

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<v Speaker 1>generally very low margin businesses. So when you take these

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon like subsidiary service providing branches, those smaller ones are

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<v Speaker 1>also generally low margin businesses, so the profits they declare

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<v Speaker 1>are very low. And this links back Luxembourg as well,

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<v Speaker 1>because since the accounts for the Luxembourg you know overall

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<v Speaker 1>parent and company if you want, are not broken down

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<v Speaker 1>on a poor country basis because they don't have to

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<v Speaker 1>do that legally, so why would they. We actually have

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<v Speaker 1>no idea how much tax the UK branch will play.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not possible to work out unless Amazon declares it

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<v Speaker 1>and they don't have to write Now they don't have to.

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<v Speaker 1>They're absolutely no need to. And it's the same for

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<v Speaker 1>all the Amazon companies in Europe that are branches off

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<v Speaker 1>the Luxembourg one. So chances are it's just treated as

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<v Speaker 1>the same as the web service as example, where it's

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<v Speaker 1>just seen as supplying services, managing set else in that case,

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<v Speaker 1>and then declared very little profit because of that. Wow.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is a massive loophole essentially, right, I mean legal,

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<v Speaker 1>but a loophole. It sounds like, yeah, it's legal, completely legal,

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<v Speaker 1>but that kind of makes it worse because it's less

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<v Speaker 1>converted out in the open, so they can't know that

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<v Speaker 1>there's nothing you can do about it, and they're just

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<v Speaker 1>laughing at you in a way. After hearing that, it

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<v Speaker 1>will probably be no surprised. But it's not just Europe

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<v Speaker 1>where Amazon has been swerving their taxes for several years.

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon paid no federal income tax in America in eighteen. Specifically,

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon paid zero dollars US federal income tax on their

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<v Speaker 1>eleven billion dollar profits that year. In fact, not only

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<v Speaker 1>did they pay no federal income tax on their profits,

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<v Speaker 1>they actually received a one hundred and twenty nine million

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<v Speaker 1>dollar tax rebate from the federal government Effectively, that's a

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<v Speaker 1>tax rate of minus one percent. One of the main

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<v Speaker 1>reasons Amazon is able to do this, though, is due

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<v Speaker 1>to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a federal tax

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<v Speaker 1>bill enacted by US Congress in twenty seventeen. This bill

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<v Speaker 1>lowered these statutory corporate tax rates from thirty five percent

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<v Speaker 1>to twenty one percent. This made the rate lower whilst

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<v Speaker 1>also leaving open tax loopholes, which, according to the Institute

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<v Speaker 1>on Taxation and Economic Policy senior fellow Matthew Gardner, allow

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<v Speaker 1>profitable companies to routinely avoid paying federal and state income

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<v Speaker 1>taxes on almost half of their profits. In a report

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<v Speaker 1>from February one, Gardner wrote, a great explanation of all this.

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<v Speaker 1>Now this is quite a long quote, but I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's worth it. He really sums it up here, Gardner said, quote.

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<v Speaker 1>The mechanisms the company is using to drop its effective

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<v Speaker 1>tax rate mostly unchanged. The company saved one point eight

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<v Speaker 1>billion dollars using tax breaks for stock options, and it

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<v Speaker 1>saved six hundred thirty nine million dollars using various tax

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<v Speaker 1>credits over the eighteen to twenty period. Amazon also enjoyed

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<v Speaker 1>the appreciation breaks, although they had no net effect on

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<v Speaker 1>the company's tax bill in Appreciation breaks allow a company

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<v Speaker 1>to deduct the costs of investments in equipment much more

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<v Speaker 1>quickly than the equipment wears out. Proponents in Congress claim

0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.680
<v Speaker 1>this encourages investments and helps the economy overall, but more

0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:50.520
<v Speaker 1>likely it rewards companies making investments they would have made anyway.

0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:54.880
<v Speaker 1>The effects of depreciation breaks are complex. Part of the

0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.080
<v Speaker 1>effect is to move tax payments further into the future,

0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.480
<v Speaker 1>even though the net effect in the long run reduces

0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.320
<v Speaker 1>the company's tax liability. This makes it important to look

0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:09.040
<v Speaker 1>at a company like Amazon over several years, and from

0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.880
<v Speaker 1>this perspective, it's clear that the nation's tax code barely

0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:17.880
<v Speaker 1>lays a glove on Amazon. Amazon's tax avoidance is consistent.

0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.360
<v Speaker 1>Over the past three years, Amazon paid an effective federal

0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.800
<v Speaker 1>income tax rate of just four point three percent on

0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:30.200
<v Speaker 1>US income. Over the past ten years, Amazon's effective federal

0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.640
<v Speaker 1>tax rate on fifty seven billion dollars of US pre

0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.480
<v Speaker 1>tax income was just four point seven percent, especially remarkable

0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.040
<v Speaker 1>given that the legal rate was thirty five for most

0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:46.360
<v Speaker 1>of this period. For any other company, one point eight

0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.920
<v Speaker 1>billion of current federal income taxes would be interpreted as

0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:54.200
<v Speaker 1>a signed the company's tax accountants had taken the year off,

0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.320
<v Speaker 1>but in Amazon's case, the one point eight billion dollars

0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.200
<v Speaker 1>the company paid is over sallowed by the two point

0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:05.520
<v Speaker 1>three billion it did not pay last year. These unpaid

0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:10.840
<v Speaker 1>taxes are especially troubling because Amazon's pandemic experience is utterly

0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:15.800
<v Speaker 1>different from the existential threats facing entire industries. Far more

0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:21.120
<v Speaker 1>typical of the economy is companies reporting created sales and

0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.320
<v Speaker 1>zero profits. In this setting, it's vital that our tax

0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:29.960
<v Speaker 1>system in America should perform as advertised, and when Amazon

0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:33.440
<v Speaker 1>shelters more than half its profits from tax, our tax

0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:39.240
<v Speaker 1>system is clearly in need of reform end quote. So basically,

0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:45.400
<v Speaker 1>a complicated combination of various tax credits, deductions, and investment

0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:49.040
<v Speaker 1>in equipment has allowed Amazon to pay it little or

0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:59.520
<v Speaker 1>no taxes for a long time, completely legally. In March,

0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.960
<v Speaker 1>he won. This got so much attention that US President

0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.159
<v Speaker 1>Joe Biden addressed Amazon by name when saying he planned

0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.840
<v Speaker 1>to stop big corporations using all of these tax loopholes.

0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.160
<v Speaker 1>He said, quote a fireman, a teacher paying twenty two

0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:22.520
<v Speaker 1>percent tax, Amazon and ninety other major corporations paying zero

0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.359
<v Speaker 1>in federal taxes. I'm going to put an end to

0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.760
<v Speaker 1>that end quote. Of course, he's yet to put an

0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.240
<v Speaker 1>end to that. However, it seems that Amazon has been

0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.879
<v Speaker 1>on his mind for a while. Here's what he had

0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:41.000
<v Speaker 1>to say about Amazon's tax situation in before he was

0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.920
<v Speaker 1>even elected president. I think if Amazon should start paying

0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.520
<v Speaker 1>their taxes. Okay, I don't think any company. I don't

0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:50.880
<v Speaker 1>give a damn how big they are. The Laura Almady

0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.280
<v Speaker 1>should absolutely be in a position where they pay no

0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.879
<v Speaker 1>tax to make billions and billions and billions of dollars

0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.359
<v Speaker 1>Number one. Now, to play devil's advocate here or whatever

0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:02.760
<v Speaker 1>you'd call it, is this the fault of Amazon or

0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.399
<v Speaker 1>the state? Who's to blame here? Ethically, Amazon has chosen

0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.720
<v Speaker 1>the path of hard core tax avoidance, but that is

0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:14.840
<v Speaker 1>not the same as tax fraught. It could be argued

0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.600
<v Speaker 1>that Amazon cares very little about ethics based on the

0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.000
<v Speaker 1>way they treat their warehouse workers, So why should they

0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.440
<v Speaker 1>care about paying their taxes properly when legally they've done

0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.720
<v Speaker 1>nothing wrong. Effectively, in the eyes of the law, they

0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.440
<v Speaker 1>sort of have paid it properly. The problem, it could

0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.800
<v Speaker 1>be said, is the system itself. In response to Joe Biden,

0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:43.480
<v Speaker 1>Amazon's senior Vice President for Policy and Press, j Kenney

0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:48.560
<v Speaker 1>tweeted the following quote. If the R and D tax

0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:53.920
<v Speaker 1>credit is a loophole, it's certainly won. Congress strongly intended.

0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:58.840
<v Speaker 1>The R and D tax credit has existed since one

0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.800
<v Speaker 1>was extended fifteen times with bipartisan support, and was made

0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:08.480
<v Speaker 1>permanent in twenty fifteen in a law signed by President Obama.

0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.439
<v Speaker 1>End quote. Now J. Carney would know. He was Obama's

0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:18.560
<v Speaker 1>White House Press secretary and ironically enough, Biden's communications director

0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.320
<v Speaker 1>when he was the Vice president under Obama. Now, I

0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:25.320
<v Speaker 1>hate to say it, but J. Carney has a point here.

0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.320
<v Speaker 1>There is no way this tax loophole was left in

0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:33.960
<v Speaker 1>by accident. Many politicians in the US, both Republican and Democrat,

0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:39.360
<v Speaker 1>talked to about changing tax loopholes that they actively benefit from.

0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.600
<v Speaker 1>If the system is corrupted, why shouldn't a company like

0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.920
<v Speaker 1>Amazon take advantage of it? Let's hear what else boy

0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:47.879
<v Speaker 1>And had to say in that interview. And I came

0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.480
<v Speaker 1>from the corporate capital of the world, Delaware, and I'm

0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:54.400
<v Speaker 1>not anti corporate, but here's the deal with idea that

0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.840
<v Speaker 1>they made a several trillion dollars and all the studies

0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.600
<v Speaker 1>show that fifty percent went to buy back their stock,

0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.040
<v Speaker 1>thirty seven percent to make sure their stockholders got rewardingly,

0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.240
<v Speaker 1>then nine percent for research, development, racist employment, et cetera.

0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:13.320
<v Speaker 1>Come on, man, that's not the capitalist system, isn't it.

0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:15.840
<v Speaker 1>It seems like Amazon are just playing the system as

0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.600
<v Speaker 1>the politicians set it up. But whatever, they can do

0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:21.760
<v Speaker 1>what they want, but they're not Robin Hood out here

0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.760
<v Speaker 1>or anything like that. They managed to make an absolute

0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:29.440
<v Speaker 1>fortune by avoiding tax, especially throughout the pandemic, and they

0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.560
<v Speaker 1>chose to reinvest almost none of it into the warehouse

0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.199
<v Speaker 1>workers who are breaking their next to make sure the

0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:39.520
<v Speaker 1>company stays running on time. They're swerving tax, treating their

0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.399
<v Speaker 1>workers badly, along with a ton of other scandals that

0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.800
<v Speaker 1>will go into later in the series. At the very least,

0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.920
<v Speaker 1>I think they could stop acting like an ethical company

0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.880
<v Speaker 1>in their press releases and when they're talking to the public,

0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:58.200
<v Speaker 1>because clearly that is just not true. Now here's something else.

0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.959
<v Speaker 1>This will again be no surprise to you at this point.

0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:07.760
<v Speaker 1>But Bezos himself is of course no stranger to tax avoidance.

0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.639
<v Speaker 1>According to a twenty twenty one Pro Publica article, Jeff

0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:17.240
<v Speaker 1>bezos Is personal wealth grew by a massive ninety nine

0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:23.480
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars from the years twenty fourteen to eighteen. However,

0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:27.560
<v Speaker 1>he reported a growth of a measly four point two

0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.960
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars. He paid nine hundred and seventy three million

0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.240
<v Speaker 1>dollars tax on that, which is a hell of a

0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.240
<v Speaker 1>lot of money, sure, but in context to what he

0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.760
<v Speaker 1>really made, he paid a tax rate of less than

0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:46.960
<v Speaker 1>one percent zero point nine eight percent. To be exact,

0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:51.480
<v Speaker 1>the richest man in the world paid less than one

0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:56.800
<v Speaker 1>percent tax on ninety nine billion dollars. Now, look at

0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:00.159
<v Speaker 1>all this, it reminds me of the aura borous, the

0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.040
<v Speaker 1>snake that eats its own tail. Amazon wouldn't be able

0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.040
<v Speaker 1>to legally avoid all this tax the way they do

0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:10.800
<v Speaker 1>if the rich and powerful politicians of this world hadn't

0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.399
<v Speaker 1>set the game up to be rigged in the first place.

0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:16.840
<v Speaker 1>Now I'm not really even trying to get all political here.

0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:19.960
<v Speaker 1>I think it's clear it's a fact that if you

0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:24.640
<v Speaker 1>have enough money, you can avoid certain laws so effectively

0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.120
<v Speaker 1>that you can do it legally. That's exactly what Amazon

0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:36.240
<v Speaker 1>has been doing with their taxes. We're taking a break

0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.560
<v Speaker 1>over Christmas, so the next episode of Megacorp will be

0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:45.199
<v Speaker 1>with you at the stat of January two. Tune in

0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:49.080
<v Speaker 1>then to hear about yet another Amazon scandal as we

0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:53.280
<v Speaker 1>dive into the many cases of Amazon spying on their

0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:58.600
<v Speaker 1>own customers and helping international intelligence agencies to do the same.

0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:09.080
<v Speaker 1>It's all a out to get even darker. Mega Corp.

0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:13.399
<v Speaker 1>Is made by my production company H eleven for Cool

0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:18.879
<v Speaker 1>Zone Media. It's written, researched, and produced by myself, Jake Hanrahan.

0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:24.720
<v Speaker 1>It was also produced by Sophie Lichtman. Music is by

0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:29.360
<v Speaker 1>Some Black, graphics by Adam Doyle and sound engineering by

0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:33.040
<v Speaker 1>Splicing Block. If you want to get in touch, follow

0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:38.320
<v Speaker 1>me on social media at Jake Underscore Hanrahan. That's h

0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:41.240
<v Speaker 1>A N A A h A n