Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but paid no corporation tax

Re:Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but pa... by tonyedgecombe on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @03:31AM (#27034857)

Corporation tax is always going to be a race to the bottom. It would be better to accept that and abolish it. Replace it by treating dividends and capital gains as normal income for tax purposes. This would be much harder to avoid.

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Re:Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but pa... by throw1742 on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @04:31AM (#27035239)

I think it's an interesting idea and I believe Estonia is doing exactly that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Estonia

> However, the system of corporate earnings taxation currently in force in Estonia is a unique system, which shifts the moment of corporate taxation from the moment of earning the profits to the moment of their distribution. In other words, earning profits in itself does not bring income tax liability, which arises only when earned profit is distributed to shareholders.

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Re:Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but pa... by dsnr on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @03:46AM (#27034949)

That would be great, but in that case governments can’t double- or triple-tax the same money. Governments are used to tax the same income multiple times and then complain when someone does shady stuff to avoid paying. For example:

Sale -> VAT -> Corporate Tax -> Employment and social security taxes -> Dividend and capital gains tax

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Re:Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but pa... by orwin on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @04:00AM (#27035040)

I think you have to follow Hanlon's razor for governement policies. It used to be easier to calculate and recover VAT and corporate tax.

Also, it is weird that tax in english is used to describe VAT as well as employment/SS "tax", this is not the same thing (or at least it shouldn't be).

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Re:Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but pa... by orwin on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @03:55AM (#27035000)

Global tax on inheritance and tax on capital, no VAT, income or corporate tax, and i'd be happy.

Some corporate tax, easely negated by going in debt, is necessary though.

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