Peter Brown wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:05 am
What are you, the CFO of Seattle? You're quite certain that Amazon is not a net contributor of tax revenue (taking into acount every possible angle of pay, from payroll taxes to property taxes to income taxes to sales taxes to vendor taxes)! You have some amazing talents, a fan! Can you be my CFO?
Nope, not the CFO of Seattle, Pete. I can add and subtract, though.
And there it is: you all think like this. You think that it's sooooo complicated, and the numbers are so big, that of course Amazon "makes it up somewhere else"
Here's what you're forgetting, Pete: are you going to apply this math of yours to all the businesses in Washington State?
Nope. You think Amazon "deserves" a tax break "because" it brings in so much money. What you forget is:
so does every F-ing business in Seattle and Washington State. Do they get these sweetheart breaks? Nope. Amazon sends lobbyists to DC and Olympia to get both line item deals, and to game the overall tax system.
Tin Hat conspiracies??? Do you know how much Amazon paid on their profits of $11.2 Billion in 2018? They didn't. They didn't pay a cent. Who cares, right? They make it up "somewhere else", right?
Wanna know how much my brother and I paid in 2018 to various governments? Not too far from seven figures. Gee, do-ya think we were a "net contributor" to government?
And yet where's my Amazon deal?
And guys like you think it makes perfect sense for my brother and I to pay Amazon's taxes for them. So small and medium business pays full freight---and Amazon pays nothing.
There's a REASON we set business tax rates where they are, Pete. We set them there to tax businesses (somewhat) fairly, and the US, States, and cities EXPECT the revenue from that set amount of business activity.
And every time you short that coffer---one of two things happen. One, services are cut. Or, two, "someone else" makes up the difference. (or three, we borrow more money to cover the shortfall)
That "someone else" means two things: small businesses like mine, and regular ol' citizens. So because the Pete Brown's of the world don't understand that when you cut Amazon's taxes......Pete Brown's taxes go up.....and Pete Brown complains that his taxes keep going up, yet services don't improve.
So then you whine about "bad government", not understanding that YOU were the man who thought it would be a great idea to give Amazon massive tax breaks. YOU are the reason your personal and property taxes keep going up.
YOU are the reason that our infrastructure is completely falling apart.
And there are millions of you. Millions of people who don't understand that THEY are the reason that taxes
keep going up for ordinary, hard working people and businesses...and YOU are the reason our country is running a massive deficit.
Get it? So next time someone talks about tax breaks for yet another Amazon, remember that what they are about to do is: raise YOUR taxes to pay for Amazon's share. Wise up! And tell them to go to hell.
And don't hand me this "the Dems are in charge" nonsense. These deals are in operation in every single State....as well as, most importantly, the Federal level. So yep, Amazon enjoys a line-time tax break at the State level aimed at tech companies. THAT is the problem. Yes, the Dems are to blame in this case.....but they are operating according to the financial ideas that YOU endorse, Pete.