Profits for online retail behemoth Amazon soared in 2018, but it paid no federal income tax for the second consecutive year, according to a report published Wednesday. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy…

The Institute on Taxation and Economic policy released its findings Wednesday after examining the company’s corporate filings. Amazon reported a $129 million federal income tax rebate for 2018, equaling a tax rate of negative 1 percent. (The federal corporate income tax rate is 21 percent.)

“The fine print of Amazon’s income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified ‘tax credits’ as well as a tax break for executive stock options,” the report stated.

Two rhyming bits of Amazon news. The first is that Amazon, according to a report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, was taxed at an effective rate of negative-one percent in 2018, having paid a federal income tax of zero dollars and having received a rebate from the federal government of a hundred and twenty-nine million dollars. During that year, the company nearly doubled its profits, from $5.6 billion to $11.2 billion.

Amazon will not pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the online retailer, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income tax because of unnamed “tax credits” in their disclosure.

Opponents of such deals cite data that suggest that tax incentives often aren’t worth what they cost governments. An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study noted that most giveaways simply move pieces on a chessboard, rather than create actual growth.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the online retailer, which reported $11.2 billion in profits in 2018, did not pay income tax because of unnamed “tax credits” in their disclosure. The company will reportedly receive a $129 million federal income tax rebate, effectively making their tax rate -1 percent.

Instead, as first reported by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Amazon received a federal income tax rebate of $129 million, essentially amounting to a tax rate of negative 1 percent. 

Amazon, which doubled its profits and made more than $11 billion in 2018, won’t pay any federal income taxes for the second year in a row, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has reported.

Amazon will not pay federal income tax for the second year in a row, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, despite being a company currently worth $793 billion.
President Trump has criticized the company for this, yet he reduced the corporate tax rate, making it even easier for large companies to pay less.

In last year’s filing Amazon similarly paid no corporate income taxes on its $5.6billion earnings. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy revealed the negative tax rate was the result of unspecified ‘tax credits’ and other benefits.