[wonder_bread]

I don't like being rude in comments sections but that's a pretty dumb comment to make, to be honest. I don't think the writer needs any help understanding how tax bills are formulated, it's just meant to state a point. (Which you would understand if you read the article before commenting)

[rukittenme]

What point is the author trying to state? "I don't understand tax bills"? It's meant to be deceptive and garner clicks. The author presents the full and complete story in the body of the text: "pre-tax profit of €59.6m last year" and "a tax of €16.5m". That's "only" a 30% tax rate. And not a story worth reading.

[wonder_bread]

The general point seems to be "large corporation doesn't pay its fair share of taxes". Something that seems to be more of a hot-button issue in Europe

[darawk]

Ya, and something that makes zero sense in the context of revenue. Nobody is taxed on revenue because taxing companies on revenue unfairly penalizes low-margin high-volume businesses (like Amazon). Revenue has nothing to do with tax rate. Nothing. Quoting their revenue in the headline is just meant to shock people that don't understand taxes. It's a bullshit headline and a bullshit story.

[felipelemos]

30% is not fair?

[sololipsist]

The real question is: Why should it be fair? We don't live in an ideal world, we live in the real one. A "fair" tax rate, even if fairness could be quantified and applied, might very well be a rate that causes businesses to flee the country for more favorable rates. If the goal of taxes are to increase the well-being of citizens, I don't see how driving businesses out of the country en masse with them is an the best interests of the public. I'm not saying that's necessarily the reality, but treating "fairness" as the most important consideration is, to be blunt, asinine. What are the odds, really, that a "fair" corporate tax rate is also the one that results in the greatest well-being of the citizenry?

I would sacrifice economic justice for economic prosperity every day of the week. I simply don't care if someone is "exploiting" me if that exploitation actually increases my well-being in the most important ways, and while a lot of people might disagree with that in abstract, I'm willing to be 99% of adults would make the same decision if actually faced with that dichotomy.

[alphakappa]

There isn't much of a point. Later in the story it says

> Amazon is a hugely successful business but makes slim margins on the products its sells – the company recently warned it may report a loss in the third quarter – and with low profits comes a low tax bill.

Essentially, the title is clickbait. There is a good discussion in there about tax avoidance, but tying it to revenue doesn't illuminate the topic.

[smokeyj]

The point is dumb, wrong, and written for advertisement dollars.

The unbridled greed behind these bloggers really makes me question my faith in journalism. It's like they only worship money.