In early April, outgoing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tossed off a curious parenthetical in his response to the White House’s proposed $2 trillion infrastr

You should be suspicious of benevolent big business

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2021-05-27 18:00:09

In early April, outgoing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tossed off a curious parenthetical in his response to the White House’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure plan. If you didn’t look closely, you might not have noticed it: “(we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate).”

Considering Amazon has often managed to avoid paying taxes, this is a big deal — or maybe a medium deal. The way Amazon and Bezos himself often get around big federal tax bills has little to do with the corporate rate, and if it were serious, Amazon could do more to push the issue than stick a few words into a statement. Still, Bezos is one of the richest, most powerful people in the world, running a $1.7 trillion company. It’s significant that he’s saying he favors an increase in corporate taxes, even if Bezos isn’t turning into Mother Teresa overnight. (See: Amazon’s approach to workers, a potential union, and even its Twitter account.)

It’s not just Bezos who’s singing a slightly friendlier tune, both on taxes and elsewhere. Lyft President John Zimmer has said he’s in favor of increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, in line with President Joe Biden’s proposal. (Former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.) JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s okay with higher taxes for rich people (though not a wealth tax, and not in New York). These tax positions connect to other ways companies have been embracing benevolent-sounding ideas. A slew of brands weighed in on Georgia’s restrictive voting law upon its signing in March. And after the US Capitol riots on January 6, multiple companies at least temporarily withdrew support from Trump and others who incited the day’s events and cast doubt on the election outcome.