Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Why doesn’t Jeff Bezos pay more tax instead of launching a $10bn green fund?

Why doesn’t Jeff Bezos pay more tax instead of launching a $10bn green fund?

If the Amazon owner wants to give something back, he could look at staff welfare – and paying dues where he makes money (Editor comment: bullshit. If he pay taxes that money will go to finance politicians, bureaucrats and bribe. How much money from all the taxes really goes to the people?). I trust Jeff (and Bill Gates) to allocate the money to make the world a better place. Not politicians. They are in their position to get rich, not to serve the public).
Alexa, how can we save the planet? Artificial intelligence is not yet so far advanced that a robot on its own is going to halt and reverse the climate crisis. More capital, of both the human and the financial kind, needs to be invested in finding answers. That is largely the point of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s announcement that he will be donating $10bn (£7.7bn) to launch the Bezos Earth Fund. “This global initiative will fund scientists, activists, NGOs – any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world,” Bezos declared in an Instagram post. “We can save Earth.”

When you’re the richest man in the world – which, with a net worth estimated at about $115bn (£88.3bn), Bezos assuredly is – such philanthropic donations are entirely affordable. Indeed, you might say they are compulsory. “The man who dies rich dies disgraced,” said Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate. Foundations in the name of the Ford, Rockefeller, Tata and more recently the Rausing (Tetrapak) families all point to that same instinct: the obligation to give. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both multibillionaires, are also among today’s biggest donors.

So there should be at least one, perhaps even two cheers for Bezos (unless such exertions produce an unwanted surge in CO2 emissions). Sceptics will want to pause for a moment, however.

Amazon is a great devouring beast of a business which has had a massive and not exactly positive impact on the world’s environment. Its treatment of staff is highly questionable. A freedom of information inquiry by the GMB union has found that more than 600 Amazon workers in the UK have been seriously injured (or narrowly escaped an accident) in the past three years – a finding that prompted Jack Dromey MP to say: “In my 30 years in the world of work I cannot remember any company clocking up so many injuries to its workers.”

Anyone who has seen the utterly bizarre Amazon advertisement with apparently contented staff, like extras from The Truman Show, declaring how happy they are with life at the company will only have had their suspicions about conditions there confirmed. The company may refer to its warehouses as “fulfilment centres”, but by and large it’s not the workers who are experiencing fulfilment.

And then there is the use of energy. Amazon is not just a giant retailer, it is also a vast data management and processing business. Its Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a huge concern all of its own (annual revenue of about $30bn). And it uses a lot of energy. In 2014 AWS committed to using only renewable energy to power its data centres, but it seems to have fallen far short. In 2018 the company as a whole announced it had reached 50% renewable energy usage, but in the same year Greenpeace claimed that, in the state of Virginia, AWS was using renewable energy for only 12% of its total needs.

If Amazon is so keen to hear from people about saving the planet, why did it recently threaten to fire employees who had spoken out about the company’s stance on energy matters? Amazon Employees for Climate Justice is continuing its protests, which in the past have included attempts to a push for a shareholder resolution to set a climate change plan. As one employee said: “The climate crisis is the greatest challenge we face, and the only way we can find solutions is by protecting people’s right to speak freely and disrupting the status quo.”

Where there’s muck there’s brass. And where there is an oligopolistic global giant changing the way we shop there are ethical concerns. This is the paradox at the heart of philanthropy. It is a fine thing to give. But how did you make your money? The dreadful concept of “giving something back” exposes the truth: if you feel the need to give something back perhaps it means you took too much in the first place.

It is better to have $10bn invested in the attempt to save the planet than not. Bezos will have done a lot of good if scientific research bears (sustainable, non-carbon and water-intensive) fruit. And who knows, maybe this investment is partly inspired by a wish to get back at one of the world’s biggest sources of fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia, with which he seems to have experienced a little difficulty lately.

But Bezos could also see to it that Amazon pays and treats its staff better, and expends less energy being “tax efficient”, paying its dues to state coffers around the world, in all those countries where the company is making so much money.

• Stefan Stern is co-author of Myths of Management and the former director of the High Pay Centre
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
×