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Italian Police Say Amazon Has Evaded $142 Million of Taxes (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about-officer dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Milan tax police have told Amazon they believe the world's largest online retailer has evaded around 130 million euros ($142 million) of taxes in Italy, a source close to the matter said on Friday. The allegedly unpaid taxes refer to the period between 2011 and 2015, when Amazon made revenues of around 2.5 billion euros in Italy, the source said. The tax police's findings have been handed to Milan prosecutors, the source added. Amazon issued a statement denying it had evaded any taxes, and said its profits in Italy, on which taxes are paid, had been low due to its considerable investments in the country.

14 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. No way! by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    A huge multinational corporation like Amazon is dodging taxes? SAY IT ISN'T SO!

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    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:No way! by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      Yup, Italy would be better off without them.

    2. Re:No way! by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If they're not paying taxes, then yes, Italy is better off without them. Let other businesses that are willing to pay taxes fill the void. Otherwise, taxpayers (individual and business) are indirectly subsidizing Amazon because they have to make up the tax revenue shortfall.

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      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:No way! by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      I see you've though it through.

    4. Re:No way! by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      Let other businesses that are willing to pay taxes fill the void.

      If they are required to pay taxes, someone just needs to collect them. What businesses are willing isn't relevant.

    5. Re:No way! by Dogtanian · · Score: 2

      I see you've though it through.

      Looks like she thought it through better than you did with your original pat comment.

      Also looks like your response of would-be smug condescension was an attempt to obscure the fact that (contrary to the implication) you had nothing to come back with.

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    6. Re: No way! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Informative

      Italy is the size of Russia when it comes to economy. Bigger recently in fact. In the US, it would be comparable to the states of Texas or New York. Which leads to the question...are you on drugs?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re:No way! by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 2

      So you can't possibly imagine how a company can provide economic benefits (and others) beyond simply paying taxes either?

    8. Re:No way! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      And you can't possibly imagine that an environment where some companies get away with not paying taxes and other ones don't is deleterious?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:No way! by Dogtanian · · Score: 2

      So you can't possibly imagine how a company can provide economic benefits (and others) beyond simply paying taxes either?

      You seem to think the onus is on us to guess- and make- your point for you.

      Yes, I suspected that's what you might have been getting at. I had also suspected you might do the usual low-taxation fans' trick of parlaying this into an excuse to argue against taxation in general, using the line that- rather than X having to pay their fair share of taxes, it would- of course- be far more reasonable for their competitors to pay less.

      I've no interest in living in a country like the US, which- relative to the amount of wealth that exists there- still has (e.g.) relatively poor infrastructure and healthcare (#)- because everyone's racing to the bottom to avoid taxation to pay for the facilities they use.

      (#) Horrendously overpriced and broken before, only partially fixed with a compromise system (Obamacare) that was closer to what the Republicans had originally proposed before *they* moved further to the right and smeared it as socialism, now in the process of being broken again. Couldn't give a toss, I don't give there, not my problem.

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  2. Avoidance vs. Evasion by gnasher719 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just so that everyone knows: "Tax avoidance" is anything that allows you to pay less taxes that is _legal_. "Tax evasion" is anything that allows you to pay less taxes that is _illegal_.

    With tax avoidance, the worst that can happen is that the tax office changes what you have to pay. You cannot be prosecuted for tax avoidance. With tax evasion, you can go to jail. Here the claim is "tax evasion".

    Well, that is assuming that whoever translated it from Italian got it right. There have been plenty of cases where things just get reported wrong.

  3. Credibility flag by paiute · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any story which begins "The Italian Police say..." is off to a bad start.

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    1. Re:Credibility flag by bsolar · · Score: 2

      In Italy, that's the whole point of the Guardia di Finanza, which is a military police force working under the Minister of Economy and Finance with the specific goal of dealing with financial crimes. They are not responsible for tax collection, but definitely for tax evasion investigations.

      Not to be confused with the Polizia di Stato (State Police), which is the Italian civil police force working under the Minister of Interior dealing with law enforcement in general.

  4. Re:Read between the lines by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Somebody from the US tries to lecture other countries on ethics. You're probably too stupid to realize that this, by itself, without (further) punchlines, would be a successful joke in any stand-up comedy show outside the US.