278 billion dollars: GAFAM and Netflix have avoided taxes with these dubious manipulations
The difference is more marked if exceptional payments are excluded following the repatriation of funds which drops their average tax contribution to 16.1 %. The FTF believes that “Silicon Six” Artificially swell their tax declarations of $ 82 billion with provisions for taxes that they did not plan to pay.
THE “Silicon Six” refute the accusations
“Tax evasion seems integrated into the very structures of these companies,” Declares Paul Monaghan, Managing Director of the FTF. “The fiscal contributions of the Silicon Six are, as a percentage, much lower than what sectors like the bank or the energy pay in many regions of the world.”
Netflix has the lowest effective tax rate with 14.7 % when Microsoft has the highest with 20.4 %. Despite a rate of 19.6 %, Amazon is considered the company with the most questionable tax practices according to the FTF, in particular due to the transfer of profits to low taxation jurisdictions such as Luxembourg.
Amazon refutes these accusations by the voice of a spokesperson by responding that the company “pays all taxes due while investing billions in the creation of jobs and infrastructure.” The company specifies that these massive investments, with low margins, explain a reduced tax rate.
Meta, accused of helping the Chinese governmentalso reacted by declaring: “We respect the international and local tax rules, taking care to pay all the taxes required in each of the countries where we operate.” Netflix pointed out that “Governments determine the rules and tax rates, and companies comply with it.”
The FTF revelations take place in a particular political context: Mark Zuckerberg (META), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Tim Cook (Apple) attended the second inauguration of Donald Trump. Tax reductions for companies are said to be at the heart of discussions between the United States and the United Kingdom about the reduction of customs duties on British products.
Among the tax optimization techniques of “Silicon Six” : the exploitation of American tax advantages on intangible income of foreign origin and the transfer of profits to tax havens. These methods make it possible to subject a large part of their international income to very low tax rates.
