Taxpayers Amazon and Starbucks pay less tax than sausage stall, says Austria

Amazon and Starbucks pay less tax in Austria than a local sausage booth, the country’s Chancellor Christian Kern has said in a newspaper interview.

“Every Viennese cafe, every sausage stand pays more tax in Austria than a multinational corporation,” Mr Kern told Der Standard.

“That goes for Starbucks, Amazon and other businesses,” he said.

He added that EU countries with low corporate taxes were sabotaging the structure of the union itself.

“What Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg or Malta are doing here lacks solidarity towards the remaining European market,” he said.

He commended the European Commission’s recent order that Apple should pay 13bn euros (£11bn) more in tax to Ireland.

After a very long investigation, the European Commission determined on Tuesday that Apple should pay the 13bn euros in extra tax, plus interest because a long standing tax handle the US technology giant amounted to illegal state aid.

Apple and the Irish government have criticised the choice and the US firm has said it truly is confident it will be overturned on appeal.

Mr Kern, who heads the nation’s coalition government and Austria’s Social Democrats, also said Facebook and Google had income of more than 100m euros each.

As well as Apple, past or current investigations have been started by the European Commission into the tax arrangements of Amazon, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Fiat.