The Week (US)

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Corporatio­ns: Bezos joins call for higher taxes

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The Biden administra­tion’s plan to raise corporate taxes drew support this week from an unlikely figure, said David Shepardson in Reuters.com. Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said the company endorses Biden’s proposal to increase the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent, and “close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas.” Amazon’s concession comes after it received “withering criticism” from the White House for paying no federal income tax in 2017 or 2018, despite billions in profit. Bezos’s endorsemen­t of a tax hike puts him at odds with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said the proposal would “slow the economic recovery.”

Many business groups still miss that Americans don’t want to hear complaints from businesses that have “gorged themselves on tax cuts,” said Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post. Last week, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found 55 corporatio­ns that made a total of $40.5 billion paid $0 in federal income taxes last year. Some household names— Nike and FedEx among them—haven’t paid taxes since 2017. Despite a raft of federal handouts, corporate tax revenues since the 2017 tax cuts have been $40 billion lower than projected, while wages grew just 2 percent compared with 2.9 percent growth rate of GDP. The public knows it’s time for these companies to “foot the bill.”

 ??  ?? Bezos: Amazon is willing to pay more
Bezos: Amazon is willing to pay more

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