Trump sets up Postal Service task force as Amazon tension rises
President has long criticised retailer’s package delivery contract
Donald Trump has set up a task force to study the United States Postal Service in a sign that his criticism of the agency’s deal with Amazon is turning into action.
The president issued an executive order late on Thursday creating a body to evaluate the “operations and finances” of the Postal Service, including its package delivery pricing.
Mr Trump has long criticised Amazon’s package delivery contract with the Postal Service as an unfair deal that loses money for the post office.
Earlier this month, he tweeted: “I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy”.
https://www.ft.com/content/315d0a7e-3ebb-11e8-b7e0-52972418fec4
Amazon earned $5.6B in 2017, but paid no federal taxes
Jeff Bezos’ sprawling e-commerce giant Amazon reportedly raked in more than $5.6 billion in U.S. profits in 2017, but despite that, the company essentially paid $0 in federal income taxes.
That’s largely attributable to “excess stock-based compensation deductions” and the effect of the 2017 Tax Act, according to the company’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this month. In other words, Amazon was able to leverage the tax credits and breaks to zero out taxes it owed this year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policy (ITEP), a non-partisan think tank.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/amazon-earned-5-6b-in-2017-but-paid-no-federal-taxes
Alberta to allow turban-wearing Sikhs right to ride motorcycles without helmets
Province joins Manitoba and B.C. in allowing exemption, which comes into effect in Alberta on April 12
Turban-wearing Sikhs in Alberta will be allowed to ride motorcycles without a helmet starting April 12.
The exemption to the vehicle equipment regulation in the Traffic Safety Act was amended by an order from Transportation Minister Brian Mason, the provincial government announced Thursday.
Manitoba and British Columbia already have an exemption.
Mason said the exemption was granted at the request of the Sikh community as recognition of their civil and religious rights.
“We think that the number of people who will be wearing a turban and not a helmet is going to be very small,” Mason said. “So we decided on the balance that this was the right thing to do.”
The cost of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding made us spit out our coffee
ith the royal wedding right around the corner, more details about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s nuptials are coming out by (what seems like) the minute. And now, we may actually have a solid estimate for the price tag of the event. The estimated royal wedding cost is going to be seriously outrageous, but honestly, did anyone expect anything less?
Of course, it’s not like Kensington Palace has released the actual royal wedding cost (or would ever do such a thing).
But wedding site Bridebook has shared its official estimate, and it’s astronomical. According to the site, Markle and Harry’s wedding may cost about $2,758,019 in American dollars, which is a lot of dollars. And that’s just counting the costs of the wedding itself, not the very, very expensive security team that will need to be present for the event and their honeymoon, and both of those things will add a ton to the end cost of getting these two hitched.