Now that Joe Biden is becoming more of a talking point again, he’s made a stupid mistake by picking on Amazon.

The former Vice President decided to attack Amazon and accuse them of not paying their fair share of taxes.

Biden tweeted, “I have nothing against Amazon, but no company pulling in billions of dollars of profits should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers. We need to reward work, not just wealth,” along with an infograph.

I have nothing against Amazon, but no company pulling in billions of dollars of profits should pay a lower tax rate than firefighters and teachers. We need to reward work, not just wealth. https://t.co/R6xaN3vXGT

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 13, 2019

Biden actually sourced a New York Times article for the post.

Amazon saw the tweet from the former Vice President and decided that they weren’t having it.

They tweeted back,

We’ve paid $2.6B in corporate taxes since 2016. We pay every penny we owe. Congress designed tax laws to encourage companies to reinvest in the American economy. We have. $200B in investments since 2011 & 300K US jobs. Assume VP Biden’s complaint is w/ the tax code, not Amazon.

We’ve paid $2.6B in corporate taxes since 2016. We pay every penny we owe. Congress designed tax laws to encourage companies to reinvest in the American economy. We have. $200B in investments since 2011 & 300K US jobs. Assume VP Biden’s complaint is w/ the tax code, not Amazon. https://t.co/uPUv1Tzlma

— Amazon News (@amazonnews) June 13, 2019

Reason.com reported,

First things first: Amazon does indeed pay taxes. In 2018, it shelled out $1.18 billion in local, state, and international income levies.

Federal corporate taxes are a different story, since Congress specifically devised them with a set of deductions meant to incentivize investment, create jobs, and spur economic growth. And Amazon does all that. In 2017, for instance, it invested $22.6 billion in research and development—the highest of any company that year. That huge number is just one such deduction included in the tax code, which explains how Amazon skirted federal taxes even with an impressive $11 billion in profits.

It’s misleading for Biden to lament that these numbers indicate that the tax code is rewarding wealth instead of work. Research and development are work, after all. If Amazon were getting a tax break for letting money gather interest in the bank, his complaint might make sense, but that’s not what’s going on here.

Let this be a lesson to Joe Biden, don’t pick a fight with a corporate giant unless you’re going to do your homework first.

Photo Credit: Marc Nozell