Americas 16 biggest corporate Tax cheaters

[BostonPirate]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/21

1. - General Electric made $10.3 billion in 2009, but received a $1.1 billion tax rebate.
   
2. - Forbes said about Bank of America in 2010: "How did they not pay any taxes on $4.4 billion in income?"
   
3. - Oil giant Exxon made a $45 billion profit in 2009, but paid no taxes in the United States.
   
4. - Citigroup had 4 quarters of billion-dollar profits in 2010, but paid no taxes.
   
5. - Wells Fargo made $12 billion but purchased Wachovia Bank to claim a $19 billion tax credit.
   
6. - Hewlett Packard's U.S. income tax rate was 4.3% in 2008 and 2.3% in 2009.
   
7. - Verizon's 10.5% tax rate, according to Forbes, is due to its partnership with Vodafone, the primary target in UK Uncut's protests against tax evaders.
   
8. - Chevron's tax rate was 1% in 2008.
   
9. - Boeing, which just won a $30 billion contract to build 179 airborne tankers, got $124 million back from the taxpayers in 2010.
   
10. - Over the past 5 years Amazon made $3.5 billion and paid taxes at the rate of 4.3%.
    
11. - Carnival Cruise Lines paid 1% in taxes on its $11.5 billion profit over the past 5 years.
    
12. - Koch Industries is not publicly traded, so their antics are kept private. But they benefit from taxpayer subsidies in ranching and logging.
    
13. - In 2008 CorporateWatch said Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp paid "astoundingly low taxes" because of tax havens.
    
14. - Google "cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years by shifting its money around foreign countries.
    
15. - Merck, the second-largest drugmaker in the U.S., last year brought more than $9 billion from abroad without paying any U.S. tax.
    
16. - Pfizer, the largest drugmaker in the U.S., erased $10 billion in taxes with an "accounting treatment."

now... lets do some math.....Lets add up the numbers of the people up there that we have profit figures for...1.1 billion plus 4.4 billion plus 45 billion plus 4 billion plus 12 billion plus 30 billion plus 3.5 billion plus 11.5 billion plus 9 billion. That does NOT cover the four or five without incomes stated here....

Thats 110.5 Billion Dollars in income from just ten corporations. If they paid the 36 percent tax america would have almost 40 billion dollars OFF of the deficit annualy.

Thats just covering the top 16 stinkers.

40 BILLION DOLLARS TO CORPORATE WELFARE AS WE TELL firemen and police they earn too much and we cant afford to pay their benefits for putting their lives on the line daily to make ours safer.

is there any real reason this is being tolerated in america? Fuck the tea baggers and the Koch they rode in on.

Get the tax money from the corporate tax dodgers and prosecute them for tax evasion.

America cannot afford to allow these crooks to steal the safety of our society.

 

[MoltenRock III]

I don't condemn any of these companies per se. These companies are taking advantage of research & development credits and other accounting "loopholes".

More importantly back in the 1950s and 60s US corporations paid about 30% of our tax base. Today? It's 6%.

I'm all in favor of lowering the corporate tax rate, yet closing all loopholes as well. It distends the corporate system. The US taxation system fucks certain industries, while giving a glory hole blow job to other industries. That should stop.

 

[BostonPirate]

I agree that the overall corporate tax rate needs to drop. It can't though or the treasury will bleed out even further due to the loopholes.

the Code needs to be fixed to reflect the new Job market needs. If these people were hiring new employees with their ill gotten gains it would at least be palatable.

I absolutely believe that no corporation should EVER recieve a check from the IRS for ANY reason, though.

 

[MoltenRock III]

I agree that the overall corporate tax rate needs to drop. It can't though or the treasury will bleed out even further due to the loopholes.

the Code needs to be fixed to reflect the new Job market needs. If these people were hiring new employees with their ill gotten gains it would at least be palatable.

I absolutely believe that no corporation should EVER recieve a check from the IRS for ANY reason, though.

Of course they should receive tax credits. That's what the USA does. Think about it, how much of GE's tax rebates were from building wind turbines, and other green energy programs for one? Tax credits by and of themselves are not "evil" or "bad". However, given the entire system as is, right now, it's a huge problem.

The US tax rate (which hardly anyone actually pays) should drop, but only if loopholes are also closed. They MUST be taken together in any changes. Ya know?

 

[BostonPirate]

well you know I was FOR the green energy tax credits.

The entire system needs to be fixed. The green credits will create a new job sector to replace the adjustment in the finance sector job market.

There needs to be a cap on how many deductions corporations can take.

and I REALLY do believe that a corp should never get a check from the IRS.

 

[MoltenRock III]

well you know I was FOR the green energy tax credits.

The entire system needs to be fixed. The green credits will create a new job sector to replace the adjustment in the finance sector job market.

There needs to be a cap on how many deductions corporations can take.

and I REALLY do believe that a corp should never get a check from the IRS.

Green energy is only one program GE took advantage of. They wouldn't have gotten a check just for the green energy. They took advantage of dozens of programs giving credits, plus 37 top notch tax attorneys to reduce their liability.

 

[BostonPirate]

Green energy is only one program GE took advantage of. They wouldn't have gotten a check just for the green energy. They took advantage of dozens of programs giving credits, plus 37 top notch tax attorneys to reduce their liability.

that is my point. we agree.

 

[Kulindahr]

Minimum corporate tax rate: whatever the lowest tax bracket for people is.

And let corporations choose what deductions they want -- just limit the number they're allowed to use.