On the principle of don't invest in what you don't understand I wouldn't invest in Twitter, Meta, or "crypto". Amazon, though, looks like a conventional business. I could imagine investing in it. I'm amused by its policy that paying corporation tax is fruitless so instead it pays high salaries so it can attract good people. Which results, of course, in more tax revenue for HMG because income tax rates are higher than corporation tax.
Let’s look at that:
Feel free to tear that apart.
The other thing Amazon does (or did in its early years) was to avoid making any taxable profits by investing (heavily) out of current income in the current tax year. It was famous for the way its share price rose despite never posting profits.
ReplyDeleteAvoiding 19% on a lot of profit is cheaper than paying a higher percentage on much smaller amount through the PAYE channel.
The plus side for Amazon is that it potentially gets the best people and the tax theft can be reduced either over time when we get a decent government or if the individuals have deductibles.
ReplyDeleteI would rather have extra pennies in the bank than the useless feeling that the company I was working for paid less all around.
Soon Musk's companies seem to perform the same levitation trick.
ReplyDeleteAny company ( Amazon) that offshores their corporation tax responsibility should be subject to at least triple the normal rate of employer's National Insurance. They can pay to keep the people who had jobs on the high street that are now on welfare thanks to them.
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