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DannyB chased by a bunch of wild rabid kangaroos writes . . .
Bernie Sanders introduces 'Stop BEZOS' bill to tax Amazon for underpaying workers
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a bill that would tax companies like Amazon and Walmart for the cost of employees' food stamps and other public assistance. Sanders' Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (abbreviated "Stop BEZOS") . . . would institute a 100 percent tax on government benefits that are granted to workers at large companies.
The bill's text characterizes this as a "corporate welfare tax," and it would apply to corporations with 500 or more employees. If workers are receiving government aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), national school lunch and breakfast programs, Section 8 housing subsidies, or Medicaid, employers will be taxed for the total cost of those benefits. The bill applies to full-time and part-time employees, as well as independent contractors that are de facto company employees.
Sanders announced his plans for the proposal last month. He emphasized today that "this discussion is not just about Amazon and [Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos." But as the bill's name would suggest, he's been particularly critical of Amazon and Bezos who became the richest person in the world (and modern history) last year. "The taxpayers in this country should not be subsidizing a guy who's worth $150 billion, whose wealth is increasing by $260 million every single day," [ . . . rest omitted . . . ]
Food stamps, School Lunch, Medicaid, great . . . but what about employees who must shop at Walmart?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @11:37PM (25 children)
Meanwhile Bernie has three houses, his wife is under investigation for fraud (she ran a Burlington College into the ground) and he's never around since he's a "national figure" - oh, and BTW, he only rails against billionaires now when he used to decry millionaires. Funny how he swapped the M for a B once he became one.
Hypocritical fraud. Oops, he's a politician, I repeat myself.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @11:40PM (16 children)
So instead of these nonsensical personal attacks, how about you focus on policy? If you disagree with the policies that someone else is speaking about, explain why. Otherwise, you're saying nothing at all and are totally irrelevant.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:04AM (15 children)
OP here -
Not a personal attack as Bernie's antics are well known in Vermont. What is a fact is that any taxes imposed on these companies will simply be tacked on to the price the feckless consumer pays for goods. It ain't going to work. The tax credits and write-offs for stock-based compensation that enabled Amazon to make out like bandit was passed by Congress.
And Bernie is still a hypocrite.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:22AM (2 children)
For 5 points, explain the difference between extraction of money by taxing and by increasing prices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:16PM
And the employers have the choice to not do things that will cause the tax to be levied at them.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday October 03 2018, @12:33PM
Reply to spoiler:
Refusal to buy is inadequate once various levels of government have passed laws that require people to purchase certain things. These include land (sit/lie laws), clothing (public decency laws), commercial food (anti-garden zoning laws), and health insurance (Affordable Care Act and foreign counterparts).
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:22AM (5 children)
And every dollar Bezos puts into his pockets or his newspaper will also be tacked on the price the feckless consumer pays. At least with taxes, the proceeds stand to help us all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:26AM (3 children)
Aye yi yi youse guys must have gone to school in the past 20 years or so....
"At least with taxes, the proceeds stand to help us all."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:51AM (2 children)
As if our school system was good before that? It wasn't. It may have gotten a bit worse thanks to No Child Left Behind, but at no point was it ever good or even close to that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:13AM (1 child)
Friends of mine live outside Burlington VT. Their son went through the local public school system and just got into a very good technical university. No major complaints about VT schools from any of them. From what I saw when visiting a few years back, the school was set up nicely and run quite creatively. Seemed like it could be a good poster child for public education.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @08:07PM
I don't know. I've seen many people make the claim that a particular school is good, but upon further investigation of said school, it would turn out that the 'education' there extensively focused on rote memorization over understanding. Then, it went from, 'School X is good' to 'School X is less bad than some other schools.' And that's the problem: Many people confuse 'better than' with 'good.' That's also why school rankings can't be relied upon by themselves.
Mathematics classes need to teach people to think like mathematicians and to fully understand the subject matter being taught, not just have people memorize patterns so that they can apply a memorized formula to them. A similar thing can be said for other subjects. Yet, we see the latter happening all over the country, including in 'good' schools.
(Score: 3, Informative) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:53PM
Right up until Amazon no longer becomes cheaper or more convenient from your _____ store, at which point the customer defects to the company that internalizes those costs and deducts them from profit and not pass along as a cost.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:56AM (2 children)
> any taxes imposed on these companies will simply be tacked on to the price the feckless consumer pays for goods
You mean that the unfair advantage the seller gets over the physical stores which pay employees and taxes will be reduced or negated?
Mission . Fucking . Accomplished .
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:07AM (1 child)
Unfair? Try getting around some US cities in a wheelchair. Amazon is a godsend to disabled shoppers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:57PM
That's a beautiful herring there. It's so red!
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:03AM (1 child)
No, as often as this is repeated, it is still not true. The taxes are never tacked into the price consumers pay. Not immediately anyway. That is because the price is already what at what the market will bear. However, the costs do make the market less attractive, and that can cause there to be fewer producers over time which raises prices. In this case though, I haven't really heard of anyone except Amazon employing hordes of people at poverty levels.... except maybe Uber and the other freelance companies if those fall under this law.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:20AM
You've never heard of Walmart?
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday September 07 2018, @05:10PM
THAT'S THE WHOLE FRICKIN' POINT!
I despise Walmart, for destroying the town where I grew up, and for constantly using unfair practices against both employees and suppliers. I refuse to shop there. However, I'm still FORCED to subsidize the wages of their employees through my tax dollars. You talk about increased prices like it's a bad thing, but why the hell SHOULDN'T the people who actually shop there being the ones paying the employees' wages? Why should I be forced to subsidize a company that I would prefer didn't exist at all?
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by DannyB on Thursday September 06 2018, @01:31PM (7 children)
Would you listen to the policy of a 2000 year old jew, who many people adore, worship and give money to? (for clarification, yes I mean Bernie)
Even if he has three houses, his wife is under investigation for fraud and a politician and hypocritical fraud?
No matter what I think of the man, and I have no particular fondness or liking for him, this policy idea struck me as genius. IMO it directly fixes a problem and shifts the costs to exactly where they should be. If it raises costs in the market, this is merely a feedback into the mechanism which gradually self corrects until no big employers have people on public assistance.
But oh my, some corporate executives might get one less yacht this year. Sad. Very terrible.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:32PM (6 children)
Why is everybody starting to talk like Trump?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:03PM
It's a good way of talking. No big words. You talk so folks know what you're saying. It's a very good way of talking. Very, very good. Failing Democrats use big words to lie. I would never lie to you. Maybe. Probably. It's the best way to get ideas across. Ideas are very important. Unlike the failing Democrats! Sad!
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:51PM (4 children)
Not doing so is unpatriotic and perhaps soon even treasonous.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Sourcery42 on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:45PM (3 children)
doubleplus good explanation comrade
(Score: 2) by http on Thursday September 06 2018, @06:15PM (2 children)
Stop using long words, it is hard to follow you.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Thursday September 06 2018, @06:37PM (1 child)
doubleplus good speak person-good.
newsspeak doubleplus gooder. Doubleminus words.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 06 2018, @06:44PM
You sir, are going to cause an executive order that limits words to two syllables or less.
What doesn't kill me makes me weaker for next time.