Joe Biden calls out Amazon & Netflix anew over taxes [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden criticized Netflix and Amazon on Friday, claiming the companies don’t pay enough taxes.
• Netflix disputed the claim, saying it pays its taxes diligently, citing the company’s financial records.
• Both Amazon and Netflix are among the most significant campaign supporters of the Biden candidacy.  

With only five days away before the U.S presidential election, Biden slams Netflix and Amazon again via Twitter, saying that the two conglomerates should pay more taxes than the regular, diligent Americans.

Despite the hectic campaign schedule, Biden took some time to take a shot at these companies, along with the other 91 giant corporations in the country. During a Friday rally in Minnesota,  he further expounded that the said enterprises almost paid no taxes at all the previous year.

Amazon is yet to comment on Biden’s claim.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Netflix referred to the firm’s financial records, explaining it paid last year’s U.S. federal taxes, adding that currently, a higher effective tax rate is reported.

On the other hand, it can’t be ignored that several Hollywood personalities, together with Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, are major contributors to the Democratic party’s Biden-Harris campaign. The move only shows that Biden does not hesitate to take on both enemies and friends.

It was recalled that the former Vice President’s tax squabble with Amazon had started in the middle of 2019 when he posted on Twitter that while he has no reason to disapprove of Amazon, the regular waged workers should have a lower tax rate than companies that profits billions of dollars.

In response, Amazon said in its tweet that since 2016, it paid $2.6B in company taxes. The post added that the business is diligent on its required payments. Amazon clarified the concern should be addressed to Congress as the house arranged the tax laws to persuade companies to continue investing in the country’s economy.

Since 2011, Amazon invested $200B in the country, which generated 300,000 jobs.

The tax argument sparked concerns following the Republicans and President Donald Trump’s 2016 redesigning of the corporate tax code, reducing 35% down to 21%.

In 2019, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reviewed the biggest U.S-based companies’ 2018 financial records. The Washington D.C think tank discovered that some of them, namely Amazon, Netflix, Eli Lilly, Chevron, and Starbucks, were managed to “zero-out” national income taxes despite showing profits.

In his version of the tax plan called “Amazon Rule,” Biden intends to set a 15% least tax rate on net yearly income for companies earning more than $100 million annually.

It was not clear why Netflix was a target of Biden’s latest tirade, considering that the media provider is a comparatively smaller company than giants such as Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet’s Google.

Bernie Sanders may have a reason behind Biden’s remarks. In early 2019, he criticized Amazon and Netflix for apparently benefiting from Trump’s tax bill, saying these large corporations spent nothing on federal obligations.

Source: Deadline