Jeff Bezos supports higher corporate taxes for infrastructure

WASHINGTON (AP) – Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos on Tuesday approved President Joe Biden’s focus on building the country’s infrastructure and said the company even supports a rate hike of corporate tax to help her pay.

Bezos ’statement, posted on the company’s website, was notable because it came after Biden chose the company to criticize how much he pays in federal taxes when he recently submitted his $ 2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal. dollars.

Biden has proposed raising the U.S. corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 21 percent to help pay for his plan, an idea Republican leaders see as detrimental to economic growth. Democrats will surely cite the support of individual companies to downplay this argument.

“We recognize that this investment will require concessions from all parties, both on the specific characteristics of what is included and on how it is paid (we support a rise in the corporate tax rate),” Bezos wrote. “We hope Congress and the Administration will come together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or improves the competitiveness of the United States.”

Bezos was careful not to approve a specific plan. Rather, he said, “we support the Biden Administration’s approach to making bold investments in U.S. infrastructure.”

The company would benefit from investments in roads, bridges, airports and broadband. Business groups have joined the federal government’s call for more investment in public works, but have generally rejected Biden’s request to raise corporate income tax with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. which describes Biden’s proposal as “dangerously wrong when it comes to paying for infrastructure”.

Along with partially undoing the corporate tax cut established during President Donald Trump’s administration, Biden also wants to set a U.S. minimum tax on corporate income abroad and make it difficult to transfer profits to companies by outside the international arena.

For a long time, Amazon has been criticized for paying virtually no federal taxes in the United States for years, even in building an e-commerce empire that currently has a market value of $ 1.6 trillion.

This has changed slightly in recent years as the Seattle company has become more profitable. Last year it reported paying $ 1.7 billion in federal taxes on its $ 20.2 billion in revenue, reaching an effective tax rate of about 8%.

Michael Liedtke, AP business writer in San Ramon, California, contributed to this report.