Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Report: Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010
A report issued today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that 78 out of 280 of America’s most profitable companies paid no federal income tax in at least one of the last three years. Thirty of these companies paid a 'less than zero' rate between 2008 and 2010.
From their release:
WASHINGTON - November 3 - A comprehensive new study that profiles 280 of America’s most profitable companies finds that 78 of them paid no federal income tax in at least one of the last three years. Thirty companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the three year period, despite combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion. These are among the findings in “Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010,” released today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
“These 280 corporations received a total of nearly $223 billion in tax subsidies,” said Robert McIntyre, Director at Citizens for Tax Justice and the report’s lead author. “This is wasted money that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit.”
“Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010” is the tenth comprehensive publication on corporate taxes from Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The two groups released their first major study on the federal income taxes that large, profitable American corporations pay on their U.S. pretax profits in 1984.
The newest study, released today, is online at www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers.
The study examines 280 corporations, all from the Fortune 500 list. All of the companies were profitable in each of the last three years and provided sufficient and reliable information in their financial reports about their pretax U.S. profits and their U.S. federal income taxes.
Corporations are lobbying for lower corporate rates and an exemption for profits they shift offshore. McIntyre, however, says “Our study provides proof that too many corporations are already being coddled by our tax system.”
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
25 Comments so far
Show AllSure are a lot of companies on that list of 30 with the word "energy" in their names.
If they paid their own security tab it might go a long way toward correcting this whole 99 vs 1 thing.
Good observation. I suspect there's a connection to with the cozy relations that they had with our former administration. If you recall, in pre-9/11 2001, the Bushies were meeting behind closed doors with energy and oil companies to "set energy policy," although they fought tooth and nail to avoid revealing who the participants were, much less the agenda. At the same time, companies like Enron were gouging the California energy market after buying regulations that let them game the system.
Notice that Pepco Holdings is an energy company, too.
Gotta love that old GE, NBC & 30 Rock Bunch. Perhaps Ly'n Brian or Rachael might comment tonight, or SNL might provide us with some 'insight' this weekend. On second thought, probably not.
We must do all that we can to widely publicize this reality. One way is a printout tree. Printout as many copies as you can and ask the recipients of your printouts to go to the Common Dreams article and printout as many as they can or will, and ask them to request the same of their recipients. This process (I choose printers over copying machines because it's less expensive) can serve as a template to be used for any CD article or articles from other sites, such as Counterpunch and Truthout.
For videos, as on Democracy Now, an email tree would work fine. Of course, email trees (which I'm sure many of you are already doing) would be the least expensive way to begin with, but of course limited to those whose emails you know.
Just an idea to try to deal with the disinformation and omissions of corporate media.
Oh, and a piece of paper in their hands is more convenient than reading on the computer, and more likely even accidentally to fall into other hands and eyes.
Come on folks, even if you taxed these 30 corporations profits at 50 %, 160 billion and tax of 80 billion , all it would do is hurt America. Dont get me wrong, they should be paying some tax, but the point is, Bush and Obama have sunk us to 15 trillion in debt, 4 trillion existing when Bush took over , he added 8 trillion God knows how, and Obama added 3 trillion , God knows where that went, all of it to Bankers!!!!!!!! and thats only what they want us to know. Real numbers are close to 25 trillion. Taxing everyone at 90 % , including corporations will not dig us out of this magical debt hole our elected government officials have put us in.
So , NO , taxes, get rid of the Federal reserve and there ponzi scheme debt, They own and run our government and our pentagon, enough is enough , fire them, dismiss them, have the banker get out of our country. No more bailouts, no more money,
"Come on folks, even if you taxed these 30 corporations profits at 50 %, 160 billion and tax of 80 billion , all it would do is hurt America."
Why would that be?
Sorry I feel government has a role and very important responsibility in providing for the establishment and oversight of a civil society. To do that it needs to be funded. I don't mind paying taxes for that purpose. It must be clear that these multinational for-profits don't want that at all. And are doing everything in their vast power to make that so, and your proposal would only play into their hands and agenda.
Now you know what they really mean when they say they advocate a "free" market (FREE TO STEAL FROM THE PUBLIC market).
___________________________________
Wells Fargo, $50 BILLION, no taxes!
The big Federal Reserve banks screw you every which way but Sunday.
When someone says, "how does a democracy turn into a corporatocracy?" Show them this list. Follow the money.
I wonder if these corporate "persons" pay compounded interest and penalties as real people do when they defer their income tax payments? Does anyone know?
So, the day after the biggest general strike in US history in 50 years and NOT A SINGLE ARTICLE on Common Dreams? Nothing. Meanwhile, the event was TRASHED by the corporate media.
So according to the .pdf the past three years Obama has outdone every other administration for which data is given including those of Ronald Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. Ronald Reagan had one "good" year, by Obama standards.
Lowest percentage of corporate taxes paid, EVER!!!
The highest percentage of corporate welfare, EVER!!!
So remind me again about why there was such a big send up for this guy?!
So... if the Obama administration has had the lowest corporate taxes as a percentage of GDP, ever, it would logically follow that he should be the darling of the Tea Party and the Right. Jim Demint should be making all over this guy, Sean Hannity should be buying him beer and Rush Limbaugh should be plying him Kobe beef...
They may well being dong that exact thing - remember the Obama /Bohner golf game - laughing and carrying on -
The 'we're enemies' is just another of the Good Cop/Bad Cop scam.
American politics are very strange...
Because americans get the government we deserve?
I agree with this observation. We as people have collectively empowered these fascist corporations with our mindless consumerism and are propping their criminal behaviors with our hard work, labor and unquestioning apathy towards their deadly practices.
"go and ask them ( the people which actually make the products and services ) how they feel that their employer does not pay any taxes. Ask them what is their moral obligation to society, as members of the society to work for these people. Right ... If most of these people were actualy human, and not hedonist automatons, they would have said long ago "fuck you, fascist. I'm not building predator drones from you, I'm not writing software to tap into the communications of verzion clients, I'm not highly complex super-explosives for your clients to pour over defenseless peoples in the middle east" and so on."--agroos
the list of priorities for the ceo, cfo and board of directors begins and ends with "continuously maximizing profits" for the corporate entity itself. a corporation never has to wrestle with moral questions or worry how policy affects the living environment. the energy, munitions, pharmaceutical, financial, retail and media industries encourage and promote antisocial character qualities. those who reach the "top" in these industries can afford all manner of materialistic self-indulgences, and imagine themselves quite superior for their lack of moral fiber, we as a society do need some sort of exchange premium, but that's only a man-made tool, neither good nor bad, but as any tool when used incorrectly can have disastrous consequences. "maxwell's siver hammer came down on her head!"
"i'm just following orders, doing my job and supporting my family" is a rationalization to excuse ones submission to the inglorious amoral profit structure. another goodie to rationalize ones part in the killing and drilling for dollars, "i don't make the rules, i just play by them!" wrong! every choice one makes bears consequence, in choosing to support war profiteering, we help make the rules that destroy our home in the cosmos. a corporation has no mind to change nor a life to lose. the time is Now, for humans to think.
The next after this report that should be investigated is the congressmen behind these corporate giveaways. Which corporate boards have congressmen/senators and their buddies on their payrolls and as big shareholders when they sold the government to these corporations?
It appears that this group of criminal enterprises got a good return on their bribes to Congress and the White House.
I was going to ask, what else is there other than Subsidies when it says "Thirty companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate " ?
I looked at few pages of the full report at http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf , if interested look at pages 4,5 & 6.
Wondering do they get actual Tax Rebate ? the answer appears YES.
here is from Report...
"But instead of paying $55 billion in income taxes as the 35 percent corporate tax rate seems to require, these companies generated so many excess tax breaks that they reported negative taxes (often receiving outright tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury), totaling $21.8 billion"
another snippet from report..
" 49 companies, told their shareholders they earned combined U.S. pretax profits in 2009 of $78.6 billion , yet they received tax rebates totaling $10.8 billion "
"In 2008, 22 companies paid no federal income tax, and got $3.3 billion in tax rebates. In 2010, 37 companies paid no income tax, and got $7.8 billion in rebates "
This is pure corruption , corporation and law makers are working together robbing wast citizenry. The sad part is most Citizens don't have a clue that this is going on, they keep watching Reality shows and filling up sports arenas on the weekends or watching the same on TVs and on weekdays working/wage slaving for the same corporations they are robbed by. US Tax codes is structured for the benefits of Corporations and The Rich, while rest keep paying.
PGE fourth on the list. Aren't they the folks that couldn't afford to or chose not to repair their gas lines and blew up an entire neighborhood last year?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/science/earth/31pipeline.html
Check the money they gave to Obama and Bush before him and you will see why they did so well.