WASHINGTON (US) – Amazon.com Inc backs a hike in the US corporate tax rate as part of a revival in the infrastructure, Jeff Bezos, its chief executive, said on Tuesday after facing flak from the White House, Congress and on social media.
“We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure,” Bezos said in a blog post. “We recognise this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate).”
Amazon has been widely criticised in recent years for either paying little or no US federal income tax, did not endorse raising rates to a specific figure.
Biden’s infrastructure plan puts forth a proposal for increasing the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and would make revisions to the tax code to address loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas.
Bezos is stepping down from the CEO role during third quarter of 2021.
Amazon reported a $162 million current US federal tax liability for 2019 and $1.835 billion US federal tax liability for 2020.
Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and Republican lawmakers scrapped the corporate rate to 21% in 2017 from 35%.
The US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business group, last month called Biden’s proposed hike in corporate taxes “dangerously misguided”. It also added that it would “slow the economic recovery and make the US less competitive globally.”