Quote:
Originally Posted by jfman
I know they're different things - my point is that the principle of exempting Amazon, or admonishing them for shifting their cut to the Netherlands (or elsewhere), on the basis of others in the supply chain paying tax is ludicrous.
I'm not claiming they're doing anything illegal - but the system is fundamentally flawed. We voted to leave the EU - I don't think it's reasonable for companies trading in the UK to shift their profits into the EU and pay tax there because it suits them. I want a tax system that suits us.
It's me and all the other idiots on PAYE that have to stump up more as a result to fund our public services.
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Amazon aren't doing anything tax-wise that others haven't been doing for decades. There is nothing stopping
any company(eg franchises such as McDonalds) or individual(eg pop stars) shifting their intellectual property rights to any country in the world, including non-EU ones. They are in essence FOREIGN companies.
Where Amazon sell their own physical products, Amazon UK merely stores and delivers them on behalf of Amazon EU SarL. Amazon UK charges Amazon EU for that service and applies UK tax on on those charges. No different to if somebody in the UK, charges commission for arranging a delivery of a Mercedes from Germany.