By Sammie Jones-
Amazon’s UK’s 2016 tax bill has been revealed to have been £7.4 million- 50% lower than the £15.8 million it paid the previous year.
The fresh revelations have angered the book sellers association who claim the UK’s tax laws are unfair and favouring the giant company. Giles Clifton from the Books Association says the current corporation tax current system based on profits alone is unfair.
Clifton said Amazon’s latest numbers show the virtual retailer is paying just £1 in corporation tax compared with £2.41 of business rate paid by physical bookseller. This makes it a none level playing field , marginalizing other businesses who do not benefit equally from taxes.
He explained: “This is an annual reminder that the current system of taxation is out of date and discredited. Booksellers should not be unfairly treated by a tax system which penalizes bricks and mortar businesses against multi-national, online competition”.
Amazon UK Services that handle warehouses and logistics recorded a turnover of £1.46 billion- up from the £946 million it earned in 2015. The fact an additional £1.3 million tax credit from the government can be deducted from future tax bills has alarmed members of the Booksellers association, who claim something needs to be done to redress the unfair state of affairs. Pretax profits have fallen by 24.3m pounds, from 48.5m to 24.2m. Amazon remain one of the most successful online companies in the world , and generated 7billion pounds in 2015.
INNOVATION
Amazon received bad publicity in 2016 when it was revealed that several of their employees where stuggling to make ends meet and sleeping near motorways in order to save travelling costs of going to work. However, Amazon has continued to make strides in innovative progress, always moving from one sector to another, and gentrifying it. Amazon’s smart speaker rose, when it firephone flamed out and its latest streaming service , Amazon music unlimited,was constructed on top of its initial music store, Amazon Mp3. In it’s fashio business department, Amazon is now the second largest seller of Apparel in the U.S and evolved from a wide range of brand experiments.
Amazon, currently the world’s largest retailer, plans to dominate ticket master – an exclusive retailer of primary ticlets for top U.S venues. With the financial might to extend its services and ideas globally, Amazon is proving to be a big force to be reckoned with , and are showing no signs of slowing down in their ideas and business acumen.
An Amazon spokesperson told the eye of media.com
“We pay all taxes required in the UK and every country where we operate. Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given retail is a highly-competitive, low margin business and our continued heavy investment.
We’ve invested over £6.4 billion in the UK since 2010 including opening a new head office in London and development centers in Cambridge and London this year, and creating 5,000 permanent jobs across the country”.
“We pay all taxes required in the UK and every country where we operate. Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given retail is a highly-competitive, low margin business and our continued heavy investment.
We’ve invested over £6.4 billion in the UK since 2010 including opening a new head office in London and development centres in Cambridge.”