Amazon handed £492 million ($678 million) to the UK taxman last year, from a total of £20 billion ($27 billion) in revenue, as the pandemic and lockdowns nitro-charged their online sales. Figures filed recently in Companies House show total revenues of £20.63 billion for the group in the UK during 2020, up from £13.73 billion ($18.93 billion) in 2019. Amazon’s taxes have often become something of a lightning rod for anger at how Big Tech multinationals appear to side-step UK taxes. Amazon said in a statement on Sept. 7 that it has plunged over £32 billion ($44 billion) of investments into its UK operations in the last decade. The company also says it helps to “fund public services and infrastructure” through a further £1.1 billion ($1.52 billion) that ended up in the coffers of the Treasury via “indirect taxes,” such as VAT paid by its customers or income tax from its employees. …