Amazon, BofA Could Owe More Under a New Corporate-Minimum Tax

• More than 70 companies could pay new 15% corporate minimum tax
• House to vote as soon as Thursday on Biden economic bill

Amazon.com Inc.,Bank of America Corp. and DISH Network Corp. are among the companies that likely would owe more in taxes if Congress passes a new corporate minimum levy, according to an analysis.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, who helped draft the proposal for minimum tax on corporate profits in President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, released an analysis Thursday that found that at least 70 companies would pay more in taxes under the plan, based on their earnings in 2020.

The corporate minimum levy in the tax-and-spending plan would require companies earn at least $1 billion in financial, or “book,” profits to pay a minimum tax rate of at least 15%. The proposal is meant to target profitable companies that are able to slash their tax bills because they qualify for tax deductions and credits to whittle down their Internal Revenue Service liabilities.

Amazon would have had to pay an additional $836 million, based on its reported profits and tax payments, while Bank of America would have paid $1.1 billion more, had the corporate minimum tax been in effect in 2020, the analysis concluded. DISH, which received a $223 million tax refund last year, would have ended up owing $386 million to U.S. and foreign governments on its $2.6 billion in global profits, according to the report.

“Billionaire corporations have gotten a free ride in America for too long. It’s time to stop letting giant corporations cheat the system -- they should pay taxes just like everyone else,” Warren said in a statement.

The corporate minimum tax would raise about $318.9 billion over a decade, accounting for more than 20% of the $1.5 trillion in tax increases in the legislation, which the House could vote on as soon as Thursday. The bill will then likely undergo revisions in the Senate.

The minimum tax is a roundabout way of raising corporate taxes without touching the 21% corporate tax rate, which Senator Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat whose vote is crucial in the evenly divided Senate, has said she opposes. The measure has been criticized by some economists, companies, and even House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal for adding complexity to the already dense tax code.

Financial companies, banks, telecommunications companies and utilities are likely to bear the brunt of the corporate minimum tax, according to Morgan Stanley Research led by Todd Castagno. Collectively companies in those industries will pay about 60% of the estimated book tax liability, according to Morgan Stanley.