Recently, the Seattle City Council decided to tax on large companies who make more than $20 million per year to address the homeless crisis. Amazon is an important company that opposes this tax and it halted the construction of its own office space that will generate more jobs.
There are two sides to this issue. On one hand, the main purpose of corporations is to generate profits for its shareholders and simultaneously, it provides jobs and expand their tax base which helps the community. On the other hand, large companies should support local communities through corporate social responsibility (CSR), which supports the local community through philanthropy events. In addition to that, Amazon does help out the homeless problem in Seattle by building new homeless shelters.
Similar to Walmart in the 1990s, Amazon is facing a political challenge for destroying local economies, exploiting labor and ignoring the environment. Firms need legitimacy from multiple actors to fulfill their economic interest.
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