SHAREHOLDERPROPOSALS States. We also publicly report on our website on our total tax contributions in the United States and, contrary to the proponent’s assertion, other countries, including the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Spain.51 For example, our blog discloses that Amazon’s 2021 tax contributions in the United States included: • $2.3 billion in federal income tax expense; • $5.2 billion in federal taxes that include employer payroll taxes, customs duties, and other taxes and fees; • Morethan$4billion in state and local taxes of all types; and • $22billion in sales taxes we collected and remitted on behalf of states and localities throughout the United States. This proposal requests that we expand our current disclosures to include country-by-country tax reporting in accordance with the GRI Tax Standard. This type of disclosure would require us to provide additional granular data that is neither useful nor informative to our investors. While the proponent claims reporting under the GRI Tax Standard would bring the Companyinlinewithother“leading companies who already report using” this standard, the article it cites identifies only oneU.S.-based corporation and only four European based corporations that report under the standard. Moreover, our total tax contribution reports also already include more detailed disclosures than many peer U.S. companies. Further, while we expecttoberequiredtoreportcountry-by-countrytaxinformationforEuropeanUnioncountriesandcertainothercountries following the European Parliament’s recent vote to require certain companies to publicly disclose such information, we believetheGRITaxStandard’sprescriptivegranularitywouldpotentiallyforcedisclosureofcompetitivelysensitiveinformation about our operations and cost structures ahead of regulations applying to large businesses and would hamper our ability to make operational decisions. In addition, providing disclosure solely on our rate of income tax distorts the other significant tax contributions we make such as property taxes, payroll taxes, taxes on gross receipts, and the many other taxes we pay in the communities in which weoperate. The disclosures requested by the proposal would also fail to take into account the investments we have madeintheeconomyandjobcreationasaresultofincentivesbuiltintotaxlaws—investmentsthattaxlawsencourage companies to make. In many instances, we provide country-by-country information that does take into account these 52 investments. For example, we currently report on our investments for all 18 European countries where we have a presence. Providing country-by-country tax disclosures will not address the proponent’s concerns to the extent they relate to incentives and policy considerations behind existing tax codes. OurU.S. Taxes Are a Reflection of Our Commitment to Investments in Innovation, Our Employees, and Our Communities Wearestronglycommittedtoinnovatingandmakinghigh-impactinvestmentstokeepouremployeessafe,serveour customers, and benefit the communities in which we operate. Like most governments that seek to encourage economic investment by companies, the U.S. Congress has written a tax code that incentivizes job creation, capital investment, the development of new technology, and employee ownership—all of which are priorities for Amazon and critical drivers of a prosperous economy. Amazonplaysakeyroleinhelpingfundpublicservices and infrastructure throughout the country. We do this through the taxes we pay and the taxes we collect and remit on behalf of our customers, employees, and third-party sellers. The taxes we pay include federal and state income taxes, payroll taxes, sales and use taxes, property taxes, gross receipts taxes, and customs duties. We collect and remit sales taxes across our marketplaces as well as payroll taxes on behalf of employees. Bycollecting and remitting taxes on behalf of our customers and sellers, we help reduce compliance costs and ensure that stateandlocalgovernmentsreceiverevenuesonatimelybasis.WealsosupportfederalinvestmentsinAmericaninfrastructure to enhance U.S. competitiveness, including an increase in the corporate tax rate to fund it. Wecontinuetoinvestheavily and aggressively to create great new jobs. Our investments have contributed to economic growth,helpingtogrowtheU.S.economybynearlyhalf-a-trilliondollarssince2010.In2020,theProgressivePolicyInstitute ranked AmazonastheNo.1U.S.companyinvestinginAmerica.Wehavecreatedmorejobsthananyothercompanyover thelastdecade,andalsowesupportmorethan1.6millionindirectjobs–inconstruction,professionalservices,healthcare,and other industries—that help communities nationwide thrive. We now have more than 1.6 million employees worldwide. We 51 Seehttps://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazon-is-investing-in-american-jobs-workers-and-communities; https://blog.aboutamazon.co.uk/jobs-and-investment/2020-amazons-economic-impact-in-the-uk;https://www.aboutamazon.it/impatto-economico-amazon- italia; https://blog.aboutamazon.eu/job-creation-and-investment/amazon-a-positive-impact-for-the-french-economy; https://www.aboutamazon.es/ inversion-y-creacion-de-empleo/amazon-10-a%C3%B1os-en-espa%C3%B1a. 52 Seehttps://www.aboutamazon.eu/map/investing-in-europe. 2022ProxyStatement 57
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