Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder and CEO of Amazon, which is under scrutiny for the company’s anti-union campaign, said Tuesday that the company supports President Joe Biden’s focus on infrastructure and backed a hike in the corporate tax rate.
“We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported infrastructure in the past and it’s the right time to work together to make this happen,” Bezos said in a statement.
“We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate). We look forward to Congress and the Administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances U.S. competitiveness.”
Biden introduced his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, last month at a carpenters training facility in Pittsburgh. The sweeping plan would create millions of jobs, rebuild 20,000 miles of roads, expand access to clean water and broadband and invest in care for the elderly, the president said.
The proposal, which would be spent out over eight years, would be paid for over 15 years by raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, ending the Trump-era tax cuts.
Biden has urged Congress to act on his proposal, arguing that failing to make the investments would contribute to a weakening middle class and leave the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage abroad.
However, lawmakers appear to be at loggerheads over the proposal. For instance, Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, said he opposes the bill raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent to pay for infrastructure; he said he instead prefers a 25 percent rate. Manchin noted that a handful of other Democrats agree with him.
The support of Amazon, which is the nation’s second-largest employer, has the potential to move the needle. However, the company is facing backlash resulting from its attempts to crush unionizing efforts at its warehouses and its Whole Foods grocery stores.
Biden has come out in support of worker unionization, including in Alabama, where Amazon workers in Bessemer are in the midst of a precedent-setting vote to form a union.
