WASHINGTON - September 22 - More than 80 of the country's biggest and most profitable corporations paid no federal income tax in at least one year from 2001 to 2003, according to a report issued today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

"This report is another concrete example of federal tax policy gone awry," said Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund. "For the cost of this corporate giveaway, Congress could have provided Head Start for every eligible child, or covered every uninsured child in America with comprehensive health care for the next decade, or helped close the gap in the 2 million unit shortfall in affordable housing for extremely low-income families."

The report also shows that in 2003, 46 companies paid no federal income tax and actually received tax rebates totaling $5.4 billion. They include AT&T, Boeing, Consolidated Edison, CSX, Lehman Brothers, Marriott International, Pepco Holdings, Reebok, Time Warner and Unisys.

The ITEP study looked at 275 Fortune 500 corporations that were profitable in each year between 2001 and 2003. The study found that in each of the last two years, the 275 companies collectively paid less than half of the 35 percent statutory tax rate.

To make matters worse, Congress and the Bush Administration are poised to embrace yet another tax bill packed with corporate welfare . The long list of corporate special interests that stand to benefit from the proposed bill include tobacco growers, movie studios, bourbon distilleries, bank directors, software programmers, tackle box companies, sonar fish finders, and bow-and-arrow makers.

"This is unacceptable," declared Edelman. "Worker income remains stagnant. Poverty is increasing. Housing costs are rising, and child care and health care are more expensive and less accessible. We don't have a money problem in this country; we have a priorities problem."

Full Report from the Citizens for Tax Justice Web site:

Corporate Income Taxes in the Bush Years -A joint publication from Citizens for Tax Justice & the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

(Adobe PDF 72 pages : 384 KB)

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