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‘Stop BEZOS’ Bill to tax Amazon for Underpaying Workers

posted by mrpg on Wednesday September 05 2018, @11:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the corporations-are-people-too dept.

DannyB writes:

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?

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:47PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @12:47PM (#731268) Journal
    Once again, we see the usual ideologies tilting at the Walmart windmill. And this idea is so profoundly awful - stupidity and mendacity vie for supremacy. Let me reiterate the bullet points for why:
    1. Hiring poor people is something you want to encourage not discourage. It's an enormous FUCK YOU to poor employees just getting by.
    2. These companies count their pennies in everything they do. Why in the world does anyone think that massively increasing their costs isn't going to result a substantial reduction in people employed and a huge hit to the poor?
    3. No actual problem exists here, aside from the matter of there being poor people, much less is being solved. Everything is already working as intended, including the Walmarts of the US.
    4. These social programs were implemented by choice. Here, we're seeing a bunch of ideologues trying to slither out from a modest consequence of that choice.
    5. And it's a moving target. Once we've destroyed the ability of the lowest strata of US society to get a job, then the social programs can be expanded and used to destroy more peoples' livelihoods. Better to not start than to create a permanent slave class.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:34PM (1 child)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday September 06 2018, @02:34PM (#731323)

    No actual problem exists here, aside from the matter of there being poor people, much less is being solved. Everything is already working as intended, including the Walmarts of the US.

    So in your estimation, Wal-Mart paying their employees less than a living wage is not a problem? That's what you're saying here.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 07 2018, @03:47AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 07 2018, @03:47AM (#731630) Journal

      So in your estimation, Wal-Mart paying their employees less than a living wage is not a problem?

      Indeed. Keep in mind that a living wage is typically a bullshit phrase that has nothing to do with what it actually costs someone to live (particularly in the presence of those welfare programs!). So right there, it doesn't mean anything to say that it is a problem.