The group of American tech giants dubbed the “Silicon Six” Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple, and Microsoft has come under scrutiny for allegedly paying $278 billion less in corporate income taxes over the past decade than what would be expected under standard U.S. tax rates. This figure is based on findings from the Fair Tax Foundation (FTF), which analyzed its financial records and tax conduct over the last ten years.
Collectively, these six firms generated $11 trillion in revenue and $2.5 trillion in profits. Despite those numbers, they paid an average effective tax rate of 18.8%, well below the U.S. statutory corporate rate of 29.7%. The FTF says that if one-time repatriation tax payments tied to past tax avoidance were removed from the calculation, their average tax rate would dip even further to 16.1%.
The report also claims the companies overstated their actual tax contributions by $82 billion over the decade by factoring in tax contingencies they likely never expected to pay. According to FTF’s CEO, Paul Monaghan, these firms have built tax avoidance into the fabric of their corporate models, with rates far below those seen in other industries like banking and energy. He also accused them of relying on aggressive tax strategies and using their vast economic and political clout to influence global tax policy.
These companies have been known to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions, use foreign-derived intangible income tax breaks in the U.S., and benefit from low-margin operations abroad, all of which lower their effective tax rates. For example, Amazon has been flagged for routing much of its UK revenue through Luxembourg. While its tax conduct ranked poorest in the FTF’s evaluation, its effective corporate tax rate stood at 19.6%, which was higher than Netflix (14.7%), Meta (15.4%), and Apple (18.4%). Microsoft paid the highest rate among them at 20.4%.
The tech companies have defended their practices by pointing out that they comply with existing laws and emphasize their significant investments. Amazon highlighted more than $1.2 trillion invested in the U.S. and €250 billion in Europe since 2010. It also stated that its profits and taxes in the UK are reported and paid locally. Meta and Netflix echoed similar positions, stating they follow all applicable tax rules in the regions where they operate.
