Silicon Six Accused of Dodging $278 Billion in US Taxes

The 'Silicon Six'—comprising Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple, and Microsoft—has been accused of evading nearly $278 billion in corporate income taxes over the past decade, according to a report by the Fair Tax Foundation (FTF). These companies generated $11 trillion in revenue and $2.5 trillion in profits but paid an average of only 18.8% in taxes, significantly below the U.S. corporate average of 29.7%. The FTF report highlights that their effective tax rate drops to 16.1% when excluding one-time repatriation payments linked to previous tax avoidance strategies. The analysis also claims that the companies inflated their reported tax payments by $82 billion by including contingencies for taxes they did not expect to pay. Paul Monaghan, FTF's CEO, criticized the companies for embedding tax avoidance into their structures and noted their considerable political influence, underscored by their lobbying efforts. The report raises concerns about the tech giants' practices and their implications for broader economic equity.