Hammad Khalid
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren clashed with Amazon on Twitter Thursday night, calling the tech giant out for exploiting “loopholes and tax havens,” opposing unionization, and “heckling” senators on Twitter.
Elizabeth Ann Warren is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. … She was one of the most influential professors of bankruptcy law before beginning her political career.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren previously accused Amazon of ‘potentially illegal’ activity in a new attack against the company’s labor practices in October 2018. Now in March 2021, Elizabeth Warren hits back again at Amazon and she wants answers again!
Warren had uploaded a video to Twitter from a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday where she discussed how companies were “manipulating the tax code to avoid paying their fair share.”
During the hearing, Dr. Kimberly Clausing, the Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary of tax analysis, said that Amazon paid a tax rate of just 4.5% between 2018 and 2020, despite the corporate tax rate standing at 21%.
A detailed interview of Warren on Twitter said that Amazon has achieved this through “loopholes and tax shelters.”
After she posted the video on Twitter, saying that companies like Amazon “pay close to nothing in taxes,” the tech giant quickly fired back. “If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them,” it added.
Amazon said that it had paid “billions of dollars” in corporate taxes over the past few years alone. Warren hit back, saying:
“I didn’t write the loopholes you exploit, @amazon – your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did. But you bet I’ll fight to make you pay your fair share, And fight your union-busting. And fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets.”
In early March, Warren proposed an annual “ultra-millionaire” tax on individuals with net worths of more than $US50 ($66) million. Under Warren’s proposals, departing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would have paid an estimated $US5.7 ($8) billion tax in 2020.
During Thursday’s hearing, she also said she planned to introduce a tax on book profits for the nation’s most profitable companies.
Amazon has clashed with lawmakers over its anti-union tactics
Amazon has come under fire for aggressively opposing workers’ efforts to form what would be the company’s first-ever union. It has placed anti-union ads on Twitch, reportedly posted anti-union messages in warehouse bathroom stalls, and pushed the National Labor Relations Board to require in-person votes.
Warren isn’t the first lawmaker that Amazon has clashed with this week.
On Wednesday, the company asked Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan on Twitter if he really believed its workers pee in bottles after he criticized Amazon’s claim that it’s a “progressive workplace.”
The company also snubbed Sen. Bernie Sanders, an outspoken critic of Amazon’s anti-union push, ahead of his visit to meet Alabama warehouse workers voting on unionization.
“If you want to hear about $US15 ($20) an hour and health care, Senator Sanders will be speaking downtown,” Dave Clark, Amazon’s consumer chief, said.
“But if you would like to make at least $US15 ($20) an hour and have good healthcare, Amazon is hiring.“
Source: BusinessInsider.com
Interested in other battles as well? The Big Battle Of E-Commerce Vs Retail In 2021 is a must-read!
