President Donald Trump targeted Amazon again on Wednesday morning, accusing the online retailer of hurting “tax paying retailers.”
“Amazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt – many jobs being lost!” Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning.
It’s not clear what prompted Trump’s latest attack on Amazon, which has become one of his consistent targets. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has spoken out against some of Trump’s policies, including his immigration ban. Bezos also owns the Washington Post, whose stories have often drawn criticism from Trump. The three top stories on the Post’s homepage Wednesday were, however, a news report on Trump’s repeated allegation that “both sides” were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville at the weekend, along with two critical analytical and opinion pieces.
Trump has previously argued that Amazon doesn’t pay taxes, but that is incorrect. As PolitiFact has noted, Amazon paid $412 million in federal, state, local and foreign taxes last year, according to regulatory filings. And since April, Amazon has charged sales tax in every state where such a tax exists.
Amazon stock fell 1.2% in early trading after Trump’s tweet on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.