Editor’s note: This commentary is by Mike DeSanto, a co-owner of Phoenix Books with stores in Burlington, Essex, Rutland, Chester and Woodstock and a member of the Main Street Alliance of Vermont Advisory Council.
[S]mall businesses are a critical part of the economic and cultural fabric that unites our communities in Vermont and across the nation.
Business growth over the past 10 years in Vermont in particular has been centered in our smallest businesses, which make up the majority of businesses in the state and employ half of the workforce. But the shift to online shopping and the growing dominance of big box stores and online retail giants like Amazon are threatening the livelihood of the small business community and workforce across the state and the nation.
If our local, state and federal policies don’t keep up with the rapidly evolving landscape, we all will pay the price.
Chances are if you’ve purchased something online recently you’ve interacted with Amazon in some form or another. Amazon has quickly become one of the world’s top online retailers, capturing nearly one in every two dollars that Americans spend online.
Retailers and workers across the state and the nation are feeling the impacts of Amazon’s dominance. Small business owners like us are competing against — and in many ways are controlled by — companies like Amazon that escape paying taxes and that choose to offer low wages to their employees, despite the company’s soaring profits.
Even more outrageous, the Institute for Local Self Reliance released a 2016 report that reveals that not only does Amazon use overseas tax havens to dodge paying taxes, avoid paying sales tax in 16 states, and use anti-competitive tactics to eliminate or gain control of competitor businesses, but Amazon has received over $613 million in public subsidies since 2005 to support the creation of its fulfillment centers.
Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos is infamously known for having surpassed Warren Buffet as the richest person in the world, having reached a net worth of more than $158 billion. Yet despite this extreme wealth, Amazon continues to intentionally destroy and gain control of competitors businesses and exploit its own workers while the rest of us are left to pick up the tab.
We’ve heard in the news that Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation targeting large companies like Amazon, WalMart, and other major retailers, by requiring that they pay a tax to cover the cost of federal assistance for their employees. I support this initiative as a concrete step toward leveling the playing field for locally owned, independent brick and mortar businesses, supporting local communities, contributing to a strong workforce, reducing income inequality and expanding the middle class.
As a small retailer competing with Amazon, big box stores, and the shift to online shopping in general, it can be difficult to bring in enough revenue to stay in business and to provide my employees with high wages and robust compensation packages. At the state and federal levels, we need to continue to think about how we can protect and support our locally owned independent businesses so they are able to be successful and in turn provide good and sustainable jobs to those they employ.
I — and the members and leaders of the Main Street Alliance — believe in a small business-driven economy and its connection to a thriving community. Our policies must reflect the changing economy and ensure that we aren’t favoring wealth-extracting giants like Amazon that dominant the market and decimate our communities.
The success of locally owned independent businesses is inextricably tied to the health and well-being of the communities of which we are a part. Vermont’s small business owners understand this, Amazon does not.
