Archbishop Welby says Amazon ‘leeches off the taxpayer,’ but the Church is a major shareholder

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin
Welby.
Reuters

• Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the
  Church of England (CoE), condemned Amazon for not paying a
  living wage and “leeching off the taxpayer.”
• An article published in
  the Church Times showed that the Church has a multi-million
  pound stake in Amazon, and it is one of its 20 most valuable
  investments.
• The CoE issued a statement to the BBC saying that “to
  be in the room with these companies” is the best way to effect
  change.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby gave Amazon both barrels on
Wednesday for unethical practices, but a Church Commissioners’
annual report shows that the Church of England has millions of
pounds worth of shares invested in the tech giant.

On Wednesday Welby gave a speech to the Trades Union Congress, in
which he criticised
the low wages Amazon pays its workers. “When vast companies
like Amazon and other online traders, the new industries, can get
away with paying almost nothing in tax, there is something wrong
with the tax system,” he said.

“They don’t pay a real living wage, so the taxpayer must support
their workers with benefits. And having leeched off the taxpayer
once they don’t pay for our defence, for security, for stability,
for justice, for health, for equality, for education.”

However, the Church Commissioners’ 2017 annual report, as

first reported by the Church Times, shows that the Church of
England has a multi-million pound stake in Amazon. A CoE
spokesman confirmed the investment to the Church Times, and said,
“as a global investor with a diverse portfolio, Amazon is listed
as one of our top 20 holdings globally.”

The Church
issued a statement following the news, “We have previously
been on the record that we consider aggressive tax avoidance or
abusive tax arrangements to be both a business risk and an
ethical issue. As with other issues, we take the view that it is
more effective to be in the room with these companies seeking
change as an active shareholder than speaking from the
side-lines.”

Welby has been vocal on the subject of wealth disparity before,

calling the present state of the economy “unjust,” and saying
that multinational companies must not be allowed to evade paying
tax.

Amazon, which recently became
the second company ever to be worth a trillion dollars, paid

£4.6 million ($6 million) in UK tax in 2017, despite revenue
of just under £2 billion ($2.6 billion). Amazon tends to point
out that it pays tax on profits, not revenue, that its profits
tend to be low thanks to the low margins in retail and its
reinvestments into its own business.

The Church of England declined to disclose to Business Insider
how long it has been buying shares in Amazon, but confirmed 2017
is the first time it has appeared in the list of top-20 holdings
published in Church’s annual report.