Please guys,

For profits and employees... you forget conglomerates and the like. Many businesses operate at a loss or sell things at a loss. Amazon retail historically hasn’t been a very profitable company- Amazon makes tons of money on hosting data for companies. Big server farms. When they started out it was even worse. But who cares? It’s just paper. If I own a software company that makes billions in “real” “honest” profit after expenses- and I decide to open a fast food joint and want to keep other food joints out of town- I’ll sell my burgers for less than they cost. Less than anyone else can- because if I lose $500 million on fast food and make $1 billion on software- in reality I made $500 million. And log term- after I push out competition- I can raise prices again. Think it’s a coincidence prices on amazon aren’t what they used to be.. or Costco or Walmart? That’s not just inflation.

So then... we just have to make the rules very specific! Make sure that without saying “amazon can’t do this..” we make it so they can’t! Wise thinking. Except... the law moves slower than a company. So spend months or years creating the “perfect” law that is written iron clad. Doesn’t violate president or constitution, the perfect phrasing that can’t be weaseled or contended.

Get enough support to pass it. Go through rewrites and all that- hope no one tacks poison to it by adding something like a “guns for kids” section or whatever (hyperbole..) and then push it through- get it passed- hope a corporation which has resources to rival your own government legal resources doesn’t fight you in court for decades- along with every other corporation that stands to lose something.

And after a year or ten- after possibly spending more money to pass the bill than it will make back.... the corporate lawyers will find a loop hole. Or they’ll make some “innovation” in business structuring to get around it. Or they’ll lobby until they get something to pry it apart. Or someone else will (intentionally or not) pass something that will give them the loophole they need to get around it. Now start over. And that’s leaving out the very real possibility that you’ll lose that company to a foreign suitor that will offer them a better deal. Which sometimes is worse and sometimes not than keeping them and their nonsense.

So how do you get around people who play by the letter of the rule and not the spirit? Well... this is a big problem- in athletics and motorsports and elsewhere. That “clever” kid- the one who is told thy can’t leave the bucket on time out- so good around in the bucket? Business is like that- but with billions at stake.

So what many sports and such do- is they make the rules- and they say: If it doesn’t say explicitly you CAN do it- it is forbidden. If someone isn’t clear on something- BEFORE they do it they have to ask for a ruling on it. What could be simpler and more effective?

Believe it or not there are STILL problems and people still outright cheat- the best just get very good at not getting caught. Of course no athlete is using steroids anymore... not after the MLB thing... or the Olympics.. all the ones... with people caught doping. Barry Bonds smashes every record there was and grew 6 head sizes and it took years to catch him using.

So.... the other problem there is innovation. If you are only allowed to do what the rules say- how do you innovate and change with the times and the market? How do you compete against foreign companies that can experiment and find efficiencies? NASCAR is stock car racing. The were on carburetors and push rod V8’s long after 99.9% of the worlds cars weren’t. What innovations come from nascar? Few have since its early days. F1 was a hotbed of innovation as was WRC in the “no limits” 80’s where titanium and ceramics and carbon composites were finding their way to cars along with turbos and all sorts of aerospace tech that is now used to make safer more efficient cars.

So that’s a big part of the problem. Amazon doesn’t pay taxes because they take advantage of every single rule they can to avoid taxes. We can get rid of those rules- but that effects more than amazon.