Facebook's corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 12.8% ($3.2b) and for 2017 it was 22.6%. About 2/3 of their income taxes are paid domestically. Historically Facebook has paid high income tax rates. In 2014 and 2015 it was near 40%, in 2016 it fell to 19%.
Google's corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 11.9% (2017 had an abnormally high domestic tax payment due to repatriation accounting; 2016 had a 19% rate). About 1/2 of their income taxes are paid domestically.
Europe's average corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 18%, the EU was 21%, the world was 23%. There are eight European nations with corporate income tax rates equal to or lower than what Google and Facebook are paying.
Their rates are low, no doubt about it. They're neither zero (paying no taxes), nor shockingly low given the very low tax rate jurisdictions available to them (eg in Europe).
Amazon is however avoiding taxes successfully. They've managed to temporarily delay the tax hit on their new profit machine. That won't last much longer.
> Corporate taxes they pay on profits if you invest a ton you can deduct it from profits. Nothing nefarious going on here.
One's definition of "deductions" and "profits" can, of course, depend on how much one spends on tax lawyers, one's appetite for testing the untested boundaries of the relevant tax laws, and one's willingness to do fun and interesting things with structuring international subsidiaries.
The ultimate result may or may not correlate with what the average citizen would accept as legitimate. Whether you think this is okay is a matter of opinion.
Google's corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 11.9% (2017 had an abnormally high domestic tax payment due to repatriation accounting; 2016 had a 19% rate). About 1/2 of their income taxes are paid domestically.
Europe's average corporate income tax rate in 2018 was 18%, the EU was 21%, the world was 23%. There are eight European nations with corporate income tax rates equal to or lower than what Google and Facebook are paying.
Their rates are low, no doubt about it. They're neither zero (paying no taxes), nor shockingly low given the very low tax rate jurisdictions available to them (eg in Europe).
Amazon is however avoiding taxes successfully. They've managed to temporarily delay the tax hit on their new profit machine. That won't last much longer.