Amazon and tax.

But surely it must be all lies if it's in the DM? Or have things changed...

"Amazon’s booming UK business paid just £11.9m of tax last year, while the online retailer’s Luxembourg unit took £5.3bn of sales from British internet shoppers without being subject to UK tax, according to company filings.

The Amazon group posted a strong UK performance in 2014, with overall takings rising by more than 14% to £5.3bn. However, its British-based Amazon.co.uk Limited subsidiary recorded a profit of just £34.4m and tax of £11.9m, according to results filed at Companies House this week."

They are still trying to fiddle their taxes.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/06/25/the-big-tax-question-on-amazon-remains/

He says exactly what I think about it. Luxembourg Amazon says it had a loss! In that case Amazon should close the Luxembourg office.

Do you believe it is lies Ana? If not, do you have a view about it?

My view is : If Amazon is paying taxes fairly, in whatever country they are located, then they should make that clear.
If George Osborne does not believe that Amazon is paying UK taxes fairly, then he should take action on it.

Exactly. Mind you, I know many people who think that their tax policy is disgusting and unfair, and then are back on the net ordering from them 2 mins later. I don't use them- even though it would make life easier at times.

Same here, granjura. Even when they said they would pay tax, I thought I would wait and see how much before I started using my Kindle again.
Seems I was right.

This is an amazing TED talk by the man who started Amazon.

www.ted.com/talks/nick_hanauer_beware_fellow_plutocrats_the_pitchforks_are_coming

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/12/06/three-ways-to-stop-the-cadburys-tax-abuse/

Now even the company that owns Cadbury's is trying to get away with not paying tax in this country.
Time the tax system was overhauled.
Anyone going to stop buying Cadbury's?

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/12/06/france-votes-for-public-country-by-country-reporting/

France has voted for country-by-country reporting, so that tax is paid in the right place at the right time.
This country could easily follow if the will were there.

There was a report yesterday that Cadburys won't be paying a penny in Corporation Tax here despite making millions in profit. Perhaps we ought to boycott their chocolate over Christmas?

Mollie, link two posts above yours.

I know, I'm sorry, didn't read it properly.

I don't use Amazon now and have found that the big stores are just as good for choice and delivery. And now Cadbury! The government needs to get a grip on this as we need the money.

Trouble is, it seems to me that the politicians as individuals have vested interest in big business - many of them are shareholders or get support in some way, have friendships amongst the board member level and probably hold expectations for life after Parliament - so won't really chase after the corporations who dodge tax. But they'll happily squeeze the little guy ... Call me cynical but...

I use, and like Amazon, but quite honestly, they are not doing anything ilegal at the moment regarding tax, it is up to the government to change tax laws if they want the extra money from these companies.

As said above, France has voted for it; Britain could do so. However, most of the tax havens are British, so what would happen to the government's friends?
Legal or not, it's immoral. Lots of people say they are not buying Cadbury's this Christmas. As they say they make no profit here, it should not make any difference to them. The Starbucks boycott hurt them. They are actually paying more tax here than they did before the boycott.

That's worth knowing (re Starbucks)... shallow as I am, I could easily boycott Cadburys but would (bows head in shame) struggle to do the same with Amazon right now...perhaps I'm more typical than I like to admit.

I boycott Amazon as well, mollie, and have done for over a year.
I buy books from a company called Hive.
www.hive.co.uk which supports your local bookshop or book related charity. The prices are cheaper than a book shop, you get postfree if your order is £10 or more, and a percentage of your order goes to your local bookshop. I ask them to give to Seven Stories, the National Children's Book Centre in Newcastle.
Michael Morpurgo has given Seven Stories his entire back catalogue.
They do other things, as well as books. Worth looking at.
Mind, my local bookshop is at Corbridge, so I will probably give to them in future, as they will not get lottery funding, and Corbridge has been flooded over the weekend. I do not know if the bookshop has been affected, but they will not be selling as many books for the foreseeable future.
I also order a lot from www.ethicalsuperstore.com this time of year.

Brilliant links DJ- thank you- really useful.

The Cadbury family must be so upset about this. A really wonderful Quaker family- with totally ethical business practices- seeing what Hershey is doing to the chocolate (palm oil, etc) and the non-paying of taxes- must be truly sad for them.

Amazon is not acting illegally- but we all know that what they are doing is wrong and unfair, in so many ways- and contribute unfair competition killing book shops that are all disappearing fast. Knowing that, we could quickly solve the problem by a boycott- and I'm sure they'd get the message fast and act upon it- as Starbucks have done.

Condoning and partaking in their wrong-doing make us party to it.

Thanks for the links, DJ. Two super alternatives to Amazon. ?

Registered with Hive today and already spent quite a bit of dosh - hurrah. Thanks again.

Quite often I find Hive cheaper than Amazon would be for books.

www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/03/dwp-post-amazon-chief-disgusting-margaret-hodge

Anybody else think this is just strange.
Since when did the DWP have directors?