
Amazon canceled its plans to expand to New York, which stood to gain 25,000 jobs and an estimated $27 billion in tax revenue over the next two decades. New York offered the company $3 billion in tax benefits to build a campus in the Long Island City neighborhood. Amazon supporters blame the New York State Senate for appointing a critic of the deal to a state board that had veto power, and the senate representative refused to even meet with the company.
Those wondering how many zeros Amazon, which is valued at nearly $800 billion, has to pay in federal taxes might be surprised to learn that its check to the IRS will read exactly $0.00.
According to a report published by the Institute on Taxation and Economic (ITEP) policy Wednesday, the e-tail/retail/tech/entertainment/everything giant won’t have to pay a cent in federal taxes for the second year in a row.
This tax-free break comes even though Amazon almost doubled its U.S. profits from $5.6 billion to $11.2 billion between 2017 and 2018.
To top it off, Amazon actually reported a $129 million 2018 federal income tax rebate—making its tax rate -1%.
Amazon’s low (to non-existent) tax rate has been chided by politicians ranging from Senator Bernie Sanders to President Donald Trump.
Additional source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/opinion/amazon-new-york.html