Posted on 11/20/2016 11:05:21 PM PST by Cronos
Amazon will almost certainly enjoy its biggest ever day on Black Friday next week.
The discount shopping event will help the American online retailer to continue its run of 22 years of unbroken and dramatic sales growth since it was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It is now valued at more than $375bn (£304bn), making it one of the biggest companies in the world.
However, despite the predicted spending spree on Black Friday, the rise of Amazon and Bezos now face arguably their biggest challenge yet - Donald Trump.
... The battle started last December with a series of seemingly unprompted tweets from Trump. “The Washington Post, which loses a fortune, is owned by Jeff Bezos for purposes of keeping taxes down at his no-profit company, Amazon,” Trump wrote. “If Amazon ever had to pay fair taxes, its stock would crash and it would crumble like a paper bag. The Washington Post scam is saving it!”
The Washington Post is owned through Bezos’s personal investment firm, rather than Amazon, and Trump did not provide any explanation for his allegation. Amazon’s tax policy is controversial and is already well-known around the world, including in Europe, where it agreed favourable tax arrangements with Luxembourg. Its profit margins are also notoriously thin. In 2015, Amazon recorded sales of $107bn but net profits of just $596m, a margin of barely 0.5%.
...The Republican presidential candidate then told Fox News that Amazon is “getting away with murder tax-wise” and has a “huge antitrust problem because he’s [Bezos] controlling so much”.
...Shares in Amazon dropped by almost 10% in the five days after Trump’s election, more than other technology companies such as Google and Apple
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
We need a Fair Tax system where everyone pays a standard tax. No deductions, no gimmicks.
The tax code is too complex.
Saves us tons of money having to drive to a city (nearest one 30 miles) to look for little things not only in fuel and miles but our time.
These big fights between these billionaires in their penthouses are for prestige and are fought for more power on the market and only hurt us that are down on the ground.
I say leave us alone and issue them dueling pistols and 10 paces.
Since I do not know the tax situation of Amazon I won’t.
I study Amazon at work.
They are a horizontally integrated tax avoidance scheme.
Exactly right! Prime rocks. Their lil p!ssing contests are going to cost the middle class.. morons! Grow up.
Yes, I have stopped ordering from Amazon. Walmart is highly competitive and does not come with the lying progressive slant.
Elections have consequences.
Huge opportunities for start ups coming.
Putting principles over saving a few bucks. I’m with you brother. I order direct from suppliers, Walmart, Sams and exclude all liberal criminal organizations. Why support an enemy?
Simpler yet, we just need a national sales tax. Everybody pays a share.
Good point. I agree.
It eliminates the free rides for the progressive parasites.
“Simpler yet, we just need a national sales tax. Everybody pays a share.”
Are you kidding? That would feed the Federal Beast like nothing else could, and it would cost the states a source of revenue that they sorely need.
I am dead serious. The states can enact their own sales tax. The IRS is corrupt and must be destroyed. Sales tax is the fairest of all taxes, period.
What is not always apparent is Amazon's "Dynamic" pricing. Is it just CRM, or Big Brother meets the Open Market?
It is so easy to shop on Amazon and saves lots of time. I love prime. I hate that Bezos owns it but I also like Apple. What are you going to do?
Yes, what about Amazon’s relationship to CAIR?
I don’t really care through what charitable organizaton Amazon is associated with CAIR...Smile Train must dump CAIR unless they are a front for Cair and do not CARE.
Cair should be classified as a terrorist organization just like the Muslim Brotherhood. That is my opinion, of course.
I am planning on dumping Amazon with Prime ASAP.
Bezos has only a small residual stake in Amazon. Much more control involved with Washington Post.
I feel the same way about Amazon. I don’t agree with Bezos’s politics but I love Amazon. I do most of my shopping on Amazon.
Agree, for a long time now. A simple flat income tax (combined income from work and investments, at one rate for) plus a national sales tax (gets the underground and cash economy). Basic poverty credits allowed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.