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Stop Amazon tax dodging. A guest post from Simon Birch from Ethical Consumer
We’ve got to put a stop to tax dodging.
At a time when public services are being slashed and household budgets are under increasing strain, students know only too well that it’s not fair that companies aren’t paying their way.
In 2011 Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer generated sales in the UK of £2.9bn yet paid only £1.8m in corporation tax.
Amazon, Google and Starbucks are just a few of the big names accused of avoiding paying millions of pounds in tax by operating their UK businesses from tax havens.
What sets Amazon apart though is that their whole business model appears to be built around using tax avoidance as a way to help make their prices among the cheapest online.
For this reason Ethical Consumer have singled out Amazon to be the subject of a boycott.
Boycotting a company hits a company where it hurts – in their profits and makes them sit up and take notice.
In an ideal world we’d get international laws passed that would outlaw these kind of dodgy activities. In reality this could take years to happen.
The good news is that as consumers we’ve got the power to force companies to change the way they operate now.
This why we’re calling on shoppers to stop shopping online at Amazon.
To help you avoid Amazon we’ve researched the top tax-paying alternatives from high street stores to online bookshops.
Sign up to our boycott today and we’ll keep you in touch with the latest boycott news both here in the UK and the growing Amazon backlash around the world. For more information about this boycott visit Ethical Consumer.
Simon Birch writes for Ethical Consumer.
People & Planet is the largest student network in Britain campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment.
2013-02-19 12:05:38
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