Speaking after a meeting with Jeff Bezos in New York on Tuesday, Boris Johnson said he’d urged the Amazon boss to make his company pay more tax in the UK. “What I did say to him was that we in the UK feel very strongly that the internet giants need to be making their fair share of contribution in tax,” the prime minister said. “When you sell many, many billions worth of goods in the UK then you’ve got to expect to be taxed fairly in the UK.” According to the PM, Mr Bezos made it clear that he would not pay tax as an “act of kindness”. Johnson told US media: “He’s a capitalist and he made the very important point that this is a job for governments. And tax isn’t something that he’s going to pay as an ex-gratia act of kindness. It’s up to governments to come up with the right framework.” Amazon paid £492m in UK taxes in 2020, equivalent to 2.3% of the £20.63bn revenue it generated in the country.
The Daily Telegraph