11/22/2021
By Charles Payne CEO & Principal Analyst

For years, the political left slammed Walmart (WMT) as a maleficent corporate citizen, arguing it underpaid employees and didn’t pay enough taxes. But, in real life, when Walmart showed up in a new town, people lined up for blocks for those jobs, and the local community cheered the chance to buy stuff that might have otherwise been unavailable in the area or too expensive.

Now, Amazon (AMZN) and its founder Jeff Bezos are public enemy number ones for the Big Government crowd that is trying to push through funding for an army of IRS agents that would target millions of everyday Americans earning less than $75,000.

The storyline goes like this – giant companies earning billions of dollars are not putting anything in the general public kitty. I get the idea that everyone and all companies have skin in the game. The irony is tax hikes are sold to fund programs that would make it easier not to have any skin in the game.

Making poverty more comfortable is not the solution, as it only engenders cradle to grave reliance on Big Government. True compassion would be a stronger educational curriculum starting from day one in school.

Amazon Pays No Taxes but Hires A Lot of Folks

Amazon pays as little taxes as it can, just like everyone that uses a CPA or tax service. And for corporations, that means tax breaks and deferments for things like the following:

• Research
• Critical investments
• Worker compensation

These things are so important as a collectively, they play an essential role in our military and keeping America, the preeminent nation. Of course, they should be incentivized. And I trust American businesses investing in research more than the U.S. government. I trust the profit motive to move advancements quickly rather than being snared in bureaucratic red tape.

So, what’s most important for America, an innovative company hiring people or one that is excessively taxed on the federal level in some far-flung notion of fairness?

Amazon has 950,000 American workers paying an average starting wage of $18.00 after moving to $15.00 an hour four years ago.

During the pandemic, the company spent $11.5 billion to keep workers safe, double overtime pay, and ensured we got important things we could not find or access any other way. So, it’s safe to say Amazon saved countless lives during the pandemic.

Nobody has even defined “fair share” when it comes to taxes. As a kid, I would watch my mother pour the juice in our glasses to make sure we all got the same amount, so I have an idea of what “fair share” means (same, even, or equal).

I’d love to hear from you on this – what’s the definition of a good corporate citizen?

Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies

Add a Comment!