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Donald Trump demanded Amazon pay more taxes—and Twitter noticed the irony

The president is very concerned about billionaires paying taxes.

 

Bryan Rolli

Tech

Posted on Mar 31, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 7:58 pm CDT

Donald Trump started his morning as he often does—on Twitter—and on Saturday morning, he attacked Amazon for its effect on the U.S. Post Office.

“It is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars,” the president tweeted, evidently grieved by the idea of postal workers losing money. He also cited a New York Times report that said Amazon’s lobbying staff has “ballooned” and griped that the data didn’t include the Washington Post, “which is used as a ‘lobbyist’ and should so REGISTER.”

Trump has frequently made clear his disdain for the Washington Post—which could partially explain his beef with Amazon, whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns the paper. Trump finished his tweet with, “If the P.O. ‘increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.’ This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!”

Other Twitter users were quick to note the irony of Trump’s demands for a fellow billionaire to pay more taxes.

https://twitter.com/nicoleperlroth/status/980068342894444544

This isn’t the first time Trump has demanded Amazon pay more taxes. In June 2017, he lambasted the company for “not paying internet taxes,” which don’t actually exist. He also predicted in 2015 that Amazon would “crash” if it “had to pay fair taxes.” That premonition hasn’t quite panned out.

Trump didn’t dwell on the topic for long. Within minutes on Saturday, he shifted gears to tweet angrily about California Gov. Jerry Brown’s pardoning of “5 criminal illegal aliens.”

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*First Published: Mar 31, 2018, 2:29 pm CDT