Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Amazon ‘tax leeches’
Church chief blast on miserly payments He also tears into Tories over gig work
JUSTIN Welby pulled no punches yesterday as he laid into Amazon over its tax affairs, accusing it of denying funds to health, education and defence.
In a hard-hitting, unprecedented speech the Archbishop of Canterbury labelled the online giant “leeches” and slammed its pay for hard-pressed staff which he said needed propping up with benefits.
And Mr Welby also ripped into the gig economy, the rise of foodbanks under the Tories and branded Universal Credit a failure.
Amazon insisted last night it paid all the tax “required”.
But the Mirror told last month how it declared its lowest UK corporation tax bill in five years.
Mr Welby told the TUC Congress in Manchester: “Not paying taxes speaks of the absence of commitment to our shared humanity, to solidarity and justice. If you earn money from a community, you should pay your share of tax to that community.
“When vast companies like Amazon, and other online traders, can get away with paying almost nothing in tax, there is something wrong with the tax system.
“They don’t pay a real living wage, so the taxpayer must support their workers with benefits.
“And having leeched off the taxpayer once they don’t pay for our defence, for security, for stability, for justice, health, equality, education.
“Then they complain of an undertrained workforce, from the education they have not paid for, and pay almost nothing for apprenticeships.”
Former oil firm executive Mr Welby, who also mocked the demise of payday lenders Wonga, then turned his attention to the poverty raging through Britain.
He demanded the rollout of Universal Credit to be halted, insisting it has left people relying on benefits much worse off.
And the 62-year-old said: “The gig economy, zero-hours contracts, is nothing new, it is simply the reincarnation of an ancient evil.
“Let us not delude ourselves into thinking the gig economy is the only reincarnation of oppression of the vulnerable in employment.
“Pensions are one example of the profit motive leading to the weakest being given the most risk and the strongest the most protection. In these areas, and in employment rights, and in many others, we see where inequality and injustice seem entrenched it leads to instability in our society, divisions between peoples, and vulnerability to the populism that stirs hatred between ethnicities and religious groups, the rise of ancient demons of racism, anti-semitism, Islamophobia and
xenophobia.” On payday loans he added: “Five years ago, I said to the chief executive of Wonga I wanted credit unions to compete him out of business. Well he’s gone. Today I dream that governments put church-run foodbanks out of business. I dream of empty night shelters. I dream of debt advice charities without clients.”
Mr Welby praised trade unions for their efforts to defend workers’ rights and urged more people, including Church of England priests, to join.
He said: “Great and historic advances were won over this last century and a half by the determination and vision of working men and women in trade unions.” Mr Welby’s outspoken address, which won a standing ovation, was the first to the TUC since George Carey’s in 1997. GMB General Secretary Tim Roache backed his attack on Amazon.
He said: “The Archbishop’s speech shows the greed and selfishness of corporate giants who leech off the taxpayer, keep their staff permanently insecure and exercise no level of responsibility to the communities they operate in, is a matter for all of us.
“The Archbishop put himself squarely on the side of working people.” New accounts emerged yesterday showing Amazon paid £49million tax on its £22billion European revenue. That is just 0.02%.
But Amazon insisted: “We pay all taxes required in the UK and every country where we operate.
“Amazon has created more than 25,000 good jobs with good pay and benefits across Britain and we are proud of the work they do on behalf of customers every day.
“All permanent Amazon fulfilment centre employees are given stock grants, which over the last five years were equal to £1,000 or more per year, per person.
Employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package.”