The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is one of the companies, along with Berkshire Hathaway, most likely to be affected by the 15 percent corporate minimum tax that became law last month.
Here's how the Journal frames the story:
"Researchers at the University of North Carolina Tax Center analyzed securities filings to determine what companies would have paid if the tax had been in place last year. They found fewer than 80 publicly traded U.S. companies would have paid any corporate minimum tax in 2021, and just six - including Amazon and Warren Buffett’s conglomerate - would have paid half of the estimated $32 billion in revenue the levy would have generated.
"The tax, which takes effect in January, is the largest revenue-raising provision in Democrats’ climate, healthcare and tax law. The provision, projected to generate $222 billion over a decade, alters tax incentives and complicates corporate tax decisions. Democrats aimed the provision at large companies that report profits to shareholders but pay relatively little tax … Although this wasn’t the aim of the law, it could have an impact on some of the wealthiest Americans. Some Democrats proposed direct taxes on billionaires’ unrealized capital gains earlier in the legislative process. While that wasn’t adopted, the new corporate minimum tax would increase the tax burden on some wealthy shareholders, such as Warren Buffett at Berkshire and Jeff Bezos at Amazon.
Mr. Buffett owned 16% of Berkshire Hathaway’s shares earlier this year, while Mr. Bezos owned nearly 13% of Amazon’s, securities filings show. Representatives for Messrs. Bezos and Buffett declined to comment."
- KC's View:
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It is a little hard for me to shed a tear for corporations and people who are enormously wealthy and pay little in taxes. I feel like as someone who writes a business blog I'm supposed to, but I just can't summon up any outrage on this one.
