This post is so unbelievably ignorant I don't even know where to start.
The whole "my refund shrank so my taxes went up" really put the ignorance of the American taxpayer on display.
The above just compounds on that. You know why Amazon showed negative $129 million of current US taxes? Either because they had negative taxable income in the US, or generated enough in Federal refundable tax credit - i.e. they are spending money in areas the US Government has deemed worthy of credits, such as research and development, etc. - to drive their liability for the year negative.
COMPANIES WITH TAXABLE INCOME PAY TAXES.
But Amazon earned $11 billion!!!!
OF BOOK INCOME NOT TAXABLE INCOME
Without looking at the financials, they could have made $11 billion of capital expenditures on equipment during the year. They'd depreciate that over 5 or so years for book, and write it off as an expense in this year. That's an $8.8 billion dollar difference in book and tax income because Amazon infused $11 billion into the equipment maker economy.
That's a made up example, but I'm sure Amazon had a huge depreciation M1 as will most companies adding equipment. But guess what? You pay for that. If they have a favorable adjustment this year, they're paying it back next year.
A good amount of your typical book to tax adjustments are timing differences that net to zero over the long run.
Sorry for my rant, but jesus christ people are so goddam ignorant when it comes to taxes.
If Amazon has $1 of US taxable income, they're paying 21 cents of tax in cash or credits.
This is not the only subject he's ignorant. Let him lecture on about his vast knowledge of science.