John,
When Amazon announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs, it did so after years of extraordinary corporate gains and public tax benefits. These layoffs were approved while executive compensation and investor gains remained fully protected.
From 2018 through 2024, Amazon’s top five executives received $874 million in compensation. During that same period, the CEO alone received $263 million and enjoyed an estimated $6.9 million personal tax cut from the Trump tax law’s reduced top rate. Meanwhile, Amazon spent $857 million on stock buybacks between 2013 and 2024, enriching its wealthy shareholders.
Instead of stabilizing jobs, Amazon has continued expanding its footprint as a federal contractor. Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing infrastructure used by ICE for data aggregation, surveillance, and enforcement coordination tied to detention and deportation.
Amazon’s board approves this direction and remains responsible for the outcomes it produces. Workers are losing jobs while executives stay insulated, and dangerous ICE contracts continue generating revenue.
Call on the board to end its contracts with ICE, halt the layoffs, rein in executive pay, and stop profiting from detention and deportation.
Amazon’s corporate tax strategy follows a pattern of shielding executives and wealthy investors while shifting the costs onto workers and the public. Over seven years, the company paid an effective federal tax rate of just 15% on more than $159 billion in domestic profits, producing $9.5 billion in tax savings.
Board decisions shape real lives, determining whether workers can support themselves, whether families can absorb sudden economic shock, and whether entire communities remain stable or are upended by job losses and enforcement systems powered by corporate technology.
Amazon’s board has the authority to change course. It approves compensation structures. It sets risk tolerance. It signs off on workforce reductions and long-term contracts. When thousands of jobs disappear while executive pay remains untouched, that outcome reflects priorities chosen at the highest level of the company.
Corporate boards rarely reverse decisions voluntarily. Change comes when pressure builds publicly and stays focused on the people responsible. That pressure creates reputational risk, scrutiny from investors and regulators, and consequences that boards cannot dismiss.
Help hold Amazon’s board accountable by demanding an immediate end to ICE contracts, to the planned job cuts, and meaningful limits on executive compensation during layoffs.
Thank you for taking action,
Pablo Willis
Communications Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] Amazon’s layoffs are staggering. We’ve seen this before
[2] How Amazon cashed in on Trump’s tax handouts—and helped ICE track, detain, and deport families
-- David's email --
John,
Amazon has just announced plans to cut 16,000 jobs, one of the largest layoffs in the tech sector.[1] These cuts span corporate offices, retail operations, and cloud divisions.
From 2018 through 2024, Amazon reported more than $159 billion in U.S. profits. Over that same period, the company paid an effective federal tax rate of just 15%, generating an estimated $9.5 billion in tax savings through deductions, credits, and other loopholes.[2]
Those massive tax savings coincide with extraordinary executive enrichment. Over the same period, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy received an estimated $263 million in ordinary income. His total compensation reached 1,067 times the median Amazon worker’s pay, while the company’s top five executives received $874 million collectively.
At the same time workers are being laid off, Amazon continues to expand lucrative government contracts with ICE. Amazon Web Services provides cloud infrastructure used across federal agencies, including systems relied on by ICE for large scale data storage, surveillance, and enforcement operations tied to detention and deportation.
Amazon’s board approved these decisions and oversees the strategy behind them. Enabling ICE violence and cutting 16,000 jobs while top executives remain overpaid and protected from layoffs reflects priorities set at the highest level of the company.
Call on Amazon’s board to put our communities first. Stop enabling ICE, stop the layoffs, and curb executive enrichment, which contributes to the widening wealth gap between the richest 1% and everyone else.
Workers are already paying the price for these choices. Families are losing income. Remaining employees face heavier workloads and greater instability. Communities feel the economic shock when thousands of jobs disappear at once.
Republicans claimed their tax subsidies for corporations would lead to economic growth and job creation. Instead, they’ve helped finance executive compensation and stock buybacks that enrich wealthy investors while workers absorb the losses.
Amazon is currently profiting from government contracts that fuel detention, deportation, and police abuse. Its technology is woven into systems that separate families and destabilize communities, converting surveillance, fear, and punishment into revenue.
Board accountability does not end with approving budgets. It extends to the consequences of those decisions. The public has a right to demand that Amazon’s board end its contracts with ICE, stop the layoffs, rein in executive compensation, and stop profiting from harm.
Tell Amazon’s board to end its involvement in ICE detention and deportation, stop the 16,000 layoffs, own the decisions that padded executive pay, and put workers and communities first.
Thank you for standing with us,
David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] Amazon’s layoffs are staggering. We’ve seen this before
[2] How Amazon cashed in on Trump’s tax handouts—and helped ICE track, detain, and deport families
