{"id":22601,"date":"2013-10-04T08:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T07:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=22601"},"modified":"2013-10-04T08:55:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-04T07:55:00","slug":"france-takes-on-amazon-its-time-we-did-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2013\/10\/04\/france-takes-on-amazon-its-time-we-did-too\/","title":{"rendered":"France takes on Amazon. It’s time we did too"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the FT reports this morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

France\u2019s parliament has passed a law preventing internet booksellers from offering free delivery to customers, in an attempt to protect the country\u2019s struggling bookshops from the growing dominance of US online retailer\u00a0Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Aur\u00c3\u00a9lie Filippetti, the culture minister who originally proposed the move,\u00a0denounced Amazon for its alleged \u201cstrategy of dumping\u201d<\/a>, claiming that the company used offers of free delivery to get around French laws controlling the price of books.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a debate in the National Assembly, she said: \u201cOnce they are in a dominant position and have wiped out our network of bookshops, it is a strong bet that they will raise their delivery charges.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She has this right, of course. Amazon is not acting in the interests of the market. Nor is it acting in the interests of the consumer. It is a monopolist using its capital to crush its competitors to then create the opportunity for exploitation.<\/p>\n

I get intensely annoyed (you may have noticed) at those who support companies like Amazon because 'profit maximisation pays' and 'free markets must be allowed to operate'.<\/p>\n

Such claims are deliberate distortions of the truth. They're part of the feudal myth<\/a>. They're about ensuring exploitation can continue.<\/p>\n

It's the French who are standing up for free markets here. And as I've argued, often, tax justice is in fact one of the strongest pro-market campaigns there is on this basis. It's the anti-marketeers on the neo-feudal right who deny this. It's a paradox that needs to be noted, often.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the FT reports this morning: France\u2019s parliament has passed a law preventing internet booksellers from offering free delivery to customers, in an attempt to
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