Report: Amazon.com's dismal record of charitable giving |
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Report: Amazon.com's dismal record of charitable giving
Amazon.com is taking a beating again for its lack of charitable donations. In an article titled "The New Scrooge," Slate's Paul Collins writes that "there are lemonade stands that donate more to charity" than the Seattle online retailer.
"While Amazon.com is famously cheap in its prices, it's also become infamously cheap to the community it lives in," writes Collins, who couldn't find any mention of charitable giving by Amazon in any SEC filings.
The company declined Slate's requests for comments.
More from Collins:
"Coldblooded, perhaps, but fair enough: Amazon.com and its shareholders can claim a philosophical purity of purpose and not spend a penny on charity so long they play by the rules. There's just one problem: Amazon.com doesn't much like the rules.
Amazon.com has spent a decade opposing the enforcement of online taxes so that its noncollection of sales tax creates a powerful pricing incentive over bricks-and-mortar competitors."
The story builds off last year's report from The Stranger's Paul Constant, who noted the lack of charitable activities by Amazon in the Seattle arts community when compared to Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and others.
Obviously, it would seem that Amazon.com -- one of the bright spots in the Seattle tech community with profits last year of $645 million -- would want to avoid this sort of negative PR.
But it does raise a question: Are corporations required to give back to the communities where they operate?
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