The Archbishop of Canterbury slammed Amazon and labelled the online giant "leeches" at a meeting in Manchester. The Archbishop continued:

“Not paying taxes speaks of the absence of ­commitment to our shared humanity, to solidarity and justice. If you earn money from a ­community, you should pay your share of tax to that community."

"When vast companies like Amazon, and other online traders, can get away with paying almost nothing in tax, there is something wrong with the tax system."

“Then they complain of an undertrained workforce, from the education they have not paid for, and pay almost nothing for ­apprenticeships."

And added:

"The gig economy, zero-hours contracts, is nothing new, it is simply the ­reincarnation of an ancient evil."

We have had a similar debate in Sweden (and the EU) about Facebook. I think it's gallant of the Archbishop to stand up for the common man and the welfare state her. What do you think?

[www.mirror.co.uk]

[www.aftonbladet.se]

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Stoneage
The Archbishop of Canterbury slammed Amazon and labelled the online giant "leeches" at a meeting in Manchester. The Archbishop continued:

“Not paying taxes speaks of the absence of ­commitment to our shared humanity, to solidarity and justice. If you earn money from a ­community, you should pay your share of tax to that community."

"When vast companies like Amazon, and other online traders, can get away with paying almost nothing in tax, there is something wrong with the tax system."

“Then they complain of an undertrained workforce, from the education they have not paid for, and pay almost nothing for ­apprenticeships."

And added:

"The gig economy, zero-hours contracts, is nothing new, it is simply the ­reincarnation of an ancient evil."

We have had a similar debate in Sweden (and the EU) about Facebook. I think it's gallant of the Archbishop to stand up for the common man and the welfare state her. What do you think?

[www.mirror.co.uk]

[www.aftonbladet.se]

I’m sorry, the Catholic Church is complaining about “others” not paying taxes?
Today is the Dr. Seuss book
‘Wacky Wednesday’

The Anglican Church rather. The Church of England.

I had to look up this:
‘Difference Between Anglican and Catholic. Though they came from the same Christian roots founded by Jesus Christ in Judea 2000 years ago, Anglicans and Catholics have diverged to become two separate forms of Christianity. Anglican refers to the Church of England and its related branches throughout the world.’

Also, NO TAXES PAID
In USA religious claimed entities are tax exempt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-10-04 06:31 by 35love.

Amazon collects taxes when you purchase something from them. I'm rather puzzled by this and why the Archbishop possibly cares. It seems like something Inland Revenue could sort out.

Is this the place for politics? I hope not

No. Did someone make it political? If so, round up the usual suspects and shoot them without a trial.

If it makes you feel better, I thought this thread was going to be the salacious tale of the Archbishop's seven foot warrior girlfriend. It would make a nice change of pace.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-10-04 08:26 by Rocky Dijon.

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Rocky Dijon
I thought this thread was going to be the salacious tale of the Archbishop's seven foot warrior girlfriend. It would make a nice change of pace.

I clicked on it hoping for something like this, too.

The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

They are preserving the rainforest?

Maybe I'm aiming to high with this? The Pareto principle? So, I will try to narrow it down.

The Archbishop is trying to point out evil on earth, instead of in heaven this time around. By doing that his words are relevant for once. Evil is done by large trans-global companies like Amazon, Google or Facebook. Employees on Amazon, for example, are paid minimum wages that they can't live on. Employees aren't allowed toilet breaks so they have to pee in bottles. At the same time Amazon are avoiding taxes by locating their company to the tax heaven country Luxembourg.

Of course I'm aware that I'm speaking to deaf ears here. In today's neo-liberal society greed is the only virtue left. And Mammon is worshiped day in and day out. That is why I admire the Archbishop's speech here.
It's a very christian thing to do...

I did not realize the official name ‘The Pareto principle’
in sales we/I found it true 100%, top sales executives always rose and did roughly 80% of the volume. It was good to be queen,
my only familiarity with European royalty or indeed,
workers rights.
Here in US you get timed breaks and capped work hours/ regulations,
unless paid 100% commissions.
I am not sure what a ‘neo-liberal’ society is, I’ve looked up 2 subjects already
and I am tired of blanket statements so I’ll pass
but thank you for the conversation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-10-05 02:58 by 35love.

This has to do with the Stones how?.....

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diverseharmonics
This has to do with the Stones how?.....

It doesn’t, which was why it was labeled ‘OT’
but no worries (hey, Rolling Stones Exibitionism is going to Australia!)
because it’s all peace and love here,
and there came your tie-in. ^

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Nate
The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

The CoE has a huge array of business interests! It owns a couple of shopping centres and It had shares in Wonga

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Nate
The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

Would you specify? Which "church" you mean? What are your references?

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grzegorz67

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Nate
The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

The CoE has a huge array of business interests! It owns a couple of shopping centres and It had shares in Wonga

One of the biggest [if not the biggest] land owners on the country too.

It's maybe worth noting that the current Arch Bishop of Canterbury is a former oil company senior executive ...so he's seen the "ruthless capitalist beast" from both sides ...

...and there's often no bigger zealot than the convert

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Stoneage
Maybe I'm aiming to high with this? The Pareto principle? So, I will try to narrow it down.

The Archbishop is trying to point out evil on earth, instead of in heaven this time around. By doing that his words are relevant for once. Evil is done by large trans-global companies like Amazon, Google or Facebook. Employees on Amazon, for example, are paid minimum wages that they can't live on. Employees aren't allowed toilet breaks so they have to pee in bottles. At the same time Amazon are avoiding taxes by locating their company to the tax heaven country Luxembourg.

Of course I'm aware that I'm speaking to deaf ears here. In today's neo-liberal society greed is the only virtue left. And Mammon is worshiped day in and day out. That is why I admire the Archbishop's speech here.
It's a very christian thing to do...

I couldn't agree more!

Comes to my mind Apple's tax evasion system in Europe (at least till 2014/2016) to shift all European profits to Ireland where they pay or paid a mere 50 EUR tax on each 1,000,000 EUR of net revenue. That is a tax rate of 0.005 %. That is ridiculous. And that is how they fool the European Governments. What does the common tax payer say to this? And this is not just, not by the meaning of the laws of any state nor by the rules of any religion or creed.

[www.theverge.com]

Apple agrees to pay Ireland $15.4 billion in back taxes to appease EU

But the company is still appealing the decision

By Nick Statt@nickstatt Dec 4, 2017, 7:19pm EST

Apple today reached an agreement with the European Union to begin depositing the €13 billion ($15.4 billion) in back taxes it was ordered to pay Ireland last year, following the landmark decision to crackdown on tax shelter policies and profit offshoring, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Despite the ruling having been issued more than a year ago, in August of 2016, Ireland has resisted collecting the money. The country strategically uses low tax rates to spur domestic investment from foreign corporations. But the practice has resulted in companies like Apple effectively using Ireland as a tax shelter, paying rates of as little as 0.005 percent on all European profits between the years 2003 and 2014 thanks to subsidiaries and shell companies designed solely to collect and maintain offshore revenue. Apple has long challenged this characterization of its tax schemes, with CEO Tim Cook calling the EU Commissioner’s ruling “total political crap.”
Because of Ireland’s inaction, the EU referred the country’s government to the European Court of Justice, the highest court of the bloc’s governing body, to compel it collect the back taxes. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe then announced today that Ireland expected money from Apple to start flowing into an escrow account starting in the first quarter of 2018.
Both Apple and the government of Ireland are appealing the ruling, and it appears Apple executives expect to recoup the money if successful. “We have a dedicated team working diligently and expeditiously with Ireland on the process the European Commission has mandated,” Apple said in a statement given to the WSJ. “We remain confident the General Court of the EU will overturn the Commission’s decision once it has reviewed all the evidence.”[/i]

d.f

PS: Nothing against the Mammon at all. But these trans-global enterprises definitely overdo it. Such behaviour and policy is not only unethical but mocks every description.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-10-05 14:48 by dead.flowers.

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Nate
The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

Apparently the church invested well, $4 billion in recent payouts.
I was trying to find the costs to the city and state legal departments time, but I need to stop.

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diverseharmonics
This has to do with the Stones how?.....

Of course it has. On several counts. I will put forward only a few.

1) The Rolling Stones sell their products on Amazon (and other places). Someone might ask: What happened with the record stores? Amazon is the answer. And someone might wonder if it's a good thing that a few trans-global giants, which hardly pay any taxes and have their staff on minimum wages, dominates the business.

2) The company The Rolling Stones are known tax evaders themselves. Sir Michael is a neo-liberal and hates to pay taxes. Neither as a private citizen or via his company. Hence "Exile on Main Street" and hence offices in the Netherlands for tax evasion purposes (Promotone BV).

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dead.flowers

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Nate
The church collects money from people and doesn’t pay tax and secondly the church has major financial investments in amazon.

Nate

Would you specify? Which "church" you mean? What are your references?

I was referring to one of the many financial investments that the Church of England has made.This information is public knowledge anyone can go look it up.

Nate

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Stoneage
2) The company The Rolling Stones are known tax evaders themselves. Sir Michael is a neo-liberal and hates to pay taxes. Neither as a private citizen or via his company. Hence "Exile on Main Street" and hence offices in the Netherlands for tax evasion purposes (Promotone BV).

That very fact went through my head as well when you made your remarks about Amazon and the rest and did your best to "aim lower" for your audience here. Of course, no one is accusing the Stones of breaking labor laws. I have one family member and several colleagues who work at Amazon. People who work there do not do so against their will. Amazon offers some positions that pay much higher than minimum wage as well. If one's education level means they will work minimum wage jobs, they choose Amazon over other employers because the health care benefits are superior to what a smaller employer can afford to offer or because they want a particular day off for their work week. Admittedly, the complaints about bureaucracy, double standards, and naturally the holiday schedule seem to be universal regardless of one's salary, but again they all accepted the job willingly and are free to look elsewhere.

If your larger concern is corporations or celebrities trying to hang onto their wealth and not let the government claim so much of it, then don't buy from Amazon or support artists who want to keep as much as possible of what they earn. Better still, live a pauper's life yourself and give all you can command in the marketplace to helping others. You know, like John Lennon preached but didn't practice. The world will be a better place because of you if you followed through and did that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-10-05 23:31 by Rocky Dijon.

Thanks for your input, Rocky Dijon. Well, I guess I have said what I wanted to say here. The main thing was how huge trans-global companies swallows all competition and uses tax heavens to escape taxes. A widely discussed subject nowadays here and in the rest of Europe. I'll give the archbishop kudos for speaking out about that. Maybe because it's very unusual to hear clergymen speaking about something that matters to society. I was not trying to blame anyone working on Amazon (or any other trans-global company) or anyone buying stuff from them. That would only be stupid. I was only trying to lift the issue with trans-global companies tax evasion schemes. In the end anyone can think what they want about that. Of course.

I was trying to be somewhat light-hearted, sorry if it didn't come across that way.