What was everyone expecting?
That a company (in any industry) allows a new tax to encroach on profits?
Customers pay ALL taxes that companies pay.
Juniper Networks has confirmed its margins will be squeezed in 2019 by US President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese electronics and components coming into America. Those extra costs will be passed on to customers, we understand, though CEO Rami Rahim hopes to keep any increases to around 3.5 per cent for affected products. …
Companies only get money from customers. If they're paying money on things, the customers pay for it.
It feels unfair that companies can 'earn money' and not pay tax, but... when you boil it down, corporate tax is basically just VAT. VAT that you only have to pay if the corp you buy from is honest with it's book-keeping. Amazon are basically doing a cash-in-hand 'discount' via tax avoidance, but because it's "legal" that translates to a massive advantage to the more socially responsible and less tricky competitors... funded by the tax payer.
that's not how VAT works. VAT is a value added tax: it is rendered whether a corporation makes profit or not.
Corporation tax is the big swindle: corporations can make $billions in revenue, yet pay zero corporation tax if the period has 'restructuring', P&L sheet or 1-time charges that render an otherwise profitable year not.
You're mixing up laws and tax practices from different countries.
Amazon, like all on line suppliers, benefited from a state sales tax exemption for on-line businesses in the US. These days are long past, we now pay state and local sales taxes on Amazon's sales.**
The situation with regard to VAT in Europe should be the same -- VAT should be collected at the rate prevailing in the country where the customer resides. If the situation differs, you get to pay VAT at a different rate because the order is nominally fulfilled in a country that's got a lower tax rate, then that's a problem for the EU's governments that needs fixing.
(**Sales taxes can vary by county, not just by state. Purchases are tied to your home address. Obviously tracking this doesn't make any sense for day to day purchases but large ticket items such as cars are assessed depending on where you live -- there's no going to the next town to avoid paying your local sales tax.)