Amazon takes UK taxpayers for granted...
Online giant got £11m UK grants
AMAZON has had nearly £11million in UK government grants since 2010 despite being one of the world’s richest companies.
The US firm is believed to have received taxpayers’ cash to help fund the cost of building its vast depots.
Amazon argues the grants enable it to create jobs, with the company’s UK workforce set to reach more than 40,000 by the end of the year.
Amazon has a stock market value of £1.2trillion. Founder Jeff Bezos, with a fortune of £177billion, is the richest person in the world.
The grants were revealed in accounts for Amazon UK Services, which since 2010 has received £10.8million in government grants.
Its government grant income peaked at almost £2million in 2015 but was last year down to £145,000.
During 2019, Amazon raked in £13.7bn from its UK businesses.
Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said: “It really sticks in the gullet that a company which deliberately does not pay its fair share of tax should benefit in this way. It’s not on – it’s outrageous. Amazon builds these fulfilment centres on the outskirts of towns yet the high street shops... get stung with higher business rates.”
Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, said: “It can’t be right to throw public money at them – especially when they themselves pay so little tax.”
Amazon has refused to reveal exactly what taxes it pays in the UK.
The company recently disclosed that it paid £293m in “direct” taxes last year, up from £220m in 2018.
But it would not say how much was corporation tax and business rates, both closely scrutinised levies.
Amazon said: “Since 2010, we’ve made direct investments in our UK operations of more than £23bn and this year we announced... 10,000 new jobs in the country.”