Amazon did not pay any federal income taxes for the second straight year in 2018 and is receiving a $129 million tax rebate, according to a new report.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) examined a recent company filing and discovered that the online retail giant made $11.2 billion in 2018 — up from $5.6 billion in 2017. Citing tax credits and tax breaks for executive stock options, Amazon did not pay any income tax.
The ITEP calculated that Amazon's tax rate for 2018 was negative 1 percent.
"ITEP has examined the tax-paying habits of corporations for nearly 40 years and has long advocated for closing loopholes and special breaks that allow many profitable corporations to pay zero or single-digit effective tax rates," the report reads.
Yahoo Finance reported that Amazon received a tax rebate of $140 million for the 2017 tax year.
In a tweet, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called for Amazon and other companies to contribute their fair share of taxes.
"Amazon made $16.8 billion in profits over the past two years but have paid ZERO in federal income taxes. In fact it got a $269 million tax refund," Sanders wrote.
"Our job: Demand large corporations pay their fair share in taxes so that we can rebuild the disappearing middle class."
Amazon conducted a lengthy bid process as it searched for its HQ2 last year before splitting the winning bid between New York City and Washington, D.C. Both cites provided the company with numerous tax breaks. Critics of the New York City deal cried foul, and on Thursday the company announced it was withdrawing the New York City project.
After this article was published, an Amazon spokesperson followed up with this lengthy statement:
"Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the U.S. and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expense over the last three years. Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits remain modest given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment.
"We have invested more than $160 billion in the U.S. since 2011, building a network of more than 125 fulfillment and sortation centers, air hubs and delivery stations as well as cloud-computing infrastructure and wind and solar farms. We invest heavily in research and development at our Seattle headquarters and 18 tech hubs across the country. We are creating tens of thousands of quality jobs each year with industry-leading pay for people of all skill levels, bringing our total workforce in the U.S. to more than 250,000."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.