Amazon Alterrnatives

[Otta]

This bot programme seems to be a failure.

[the-e-dealer]

Exterminate Death, grr how do you feel about blood and business Ojito?

boinng.

[LadyDeliah]

I'm gutted Amazon are so bad as they make it easy to order Christmas presents, but I refuse to give them any of my hard earned to ship off to Luxembourg.

Even the independents registered at Amazon give a percentage to Amazon, so I might search for my item on Amazon and then google their name to see if they also have another online shop, e.g. eBay.

I agree that the laws have to change and these corporations may not be doing anything unlawful, but their tax affairs are set up in an immoral way which the cuts to frontline services and UK economic stagnation, make it hard to swallow. It might make buying a few Christmas presents more of a pain in the arse, but seeing as how the powers that be, don't have the will to tackle the massive tax loopholes, I will be exercising my consumer power to voice my objection.

It might also be worth noting that the same consumer power has forced Starbucks to rethink their tax dodging ways, so even without a proper change in the law, we can make done difference. I'm sure the PR departments of the worst offenders will be out in force though, making any little concession look like they are moral and ethical.

[the-e-dealer]

Another Hero !

[LadyDeliah]

Lol, actually, I'm a super-hero, ever since that wierd storm.

[the-e-dealer]

Shall we form a Justice League of EDF ? Help Ma Bob would be so excited!

[LondonMix]

I?m not saying Amazon is a ?good? company but it?s worth going through some microeconomics I think. Please ignore this long / boring diatribe if you are remotely familiar with any of this.

Before, taking the stance that the government should close (widely used) ?loopholes? in the existing tax law, it?s important to think through the consequences of this. The loopholes are not mistakes or accidental gray areas. The government has intentionally created ways for businesses to reduce / eliminate tax. Most companies will get a tax ruling from the authorities confirming they are interpreting / using the tax code as intended before implementing any tax strategy so there is absolutely nothing underhand going on and in fact the government actively encourages companies to use the tax code to that end. The question is why does the government want to reduce corporate income tax and why don?t they do it in a more straightforward way?

First, real economic profits in any sector are zero from a mirco-economic perspective. This simply means that every business owner (small and large) needs to see a specific return on the money they have invested in their business to think it?s worth their while to operate (rather than sticking the capital in a bond and getting a steady almost risk free income or just spending the money instead).

A reduction in income tax has one of two consequences. In an industry with low barriers to entry and for which competition between firms is significant, a reduction in taxes causes prices to fall and businesses to expand for the following reasons. The reduction of tax (which is a cost) increases profits beyond the minimum return someone running a business requires to engage in that activity. This will attract people to open new businesses and the competition / increase supply of goods and services will drive prices down until profit rate for the sector returns to normal. For sectors that have high barriers to entry / are pseudo monopolistic the lower costs of doing business might result in increased production and lower prices but not to the same extent and potentially not at all which is one of the reasons anti-trust and anti-competition laws are so important.

As you can imagine, the exact opposite happens when taxes increase. Profitability decreases below the minimum level and businesses close until competition reduces to a level at which prices can increase sufficiently to restore profitability (except again for monopolies).

An increase in corporate tax increases the funding of the public sector and reduces the size of the private sector which is a totally reasonable trade-off as there are many things only the government can and should provide to its citizens. However, if by increasing taxes you reduce total economic activity, your actual tax revenue is not going to increase very significantly as there will be less private businesses and less private employment (which depending on what the taxes are used for can be a legitimate trade off). Reducing taxes has the opposite effect (more businesses and private employment and therefore higher income tax receipts etc.) which is why despite the scandals the government is proposing additional tax breaks for small businesses to boost growth.

It?s very easy for governments to sell tax breaks for small companies; however, because people hate ?corporations? the tax authorities sneak these in to the tax code intentionally as ?loopholes? that they carefully explain and encourage businesses to use. As others have already mentioned, most ?evil corporations? are owned by pension funds and insurance companies directly or indirectly and therefore, the reduced profitability of major corporations has additional consequences that need to be considered regarding pensions, annuity rates, the retirement age, insurance premiums etc etc etc.

With that said, buy what you want. Amazon is no angel and if you are convinced you?ve found a company in line with your moral code on most issues support them.

[PaulK]

snore

[LondonMix]

I find you very interesting and informative as well...:)

[Otta]

LadyDeliah Wrote:

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> Lol, actually, I'm a super-hero, ever since that

> wierd storm.

Another Misfits fan!!! Although I'm not sure I can be arsed now the entire original cast have gone.

PaulK, very helpful contribution there, thanks.

[El Pibe]

aaah i see, havent been keeping up to date with the forum recently. Paul[a]K duuurh

[LadyDeliah]

Lol, yes. My teenage daughter got me into it! Compulsive viewing in my opinion :-)

Otta Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> LadyDeliah Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Lol, actually, I'm a super-hero, ever since

> that

> > wierd storm.

>

> Another Misfits fan!!! Although I'm not sure I can

> be arsed now the entire original cast have gone.

>

> PaulK, very helpful contribution there, thanks.

[Otta]

I stumbled across the first series whilst in a drunk / erm "relaxed" state, and got hooked. I think up until this series it's been genuinely really good funny and clever telly. It's probably still good, but now all the original characters have left I just can't really be arsed.

[LadyDeliah]

Still has quite a few scream out loud funny moments!