Then-President Donald Trump joked with Republican lawmakers on the South Lawn of the White House on December 20, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
34% of Big, Profitable US Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes in 1st Year of Trump Tax Law
"Instead of cutting vital and popular programs like Social Security and Medicare, we need to repeal the Trump tax breaks for the rich and demand that the largest corporations in America finally start paying their fair share of taxes," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
A study released Friday by the Government Accountability Office found that more than a third of large, profitable corporations in the United States paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2018, the year the regressive Trump-GOP tax cuts took effect.
The GAO analysis, commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), showed that "average effective tax rates—the percentage of income paid after tax breaks—among profitable large corporations fell from 16% in 2014 to 9% in 2018."
According to the GAO, the share of profitable large corporations that owed $0 in federal income taxes after credits rose from around 22% in 2014 to 34% in 2018.
"Each year from 2014-2018, about half of large corporations and a quarter of profitable ones didn't owe federal taxes," the GAO noted. "For example, profitable corporations may not owe taxes due to prior years' losses."
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which former President Donald Trump signed into law in December 2017, slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and authorized a slew of other giveaways that made it easier for large businesses and wealthy individuals to lower their tax bills.
"While House Republicans want to make huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because of their 'serious concern' about the deficit, they voted to provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to large corporations and the top one percent," Sanders said in a statement Friday. "The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
"Instead of cutting vital and popular programs like Social Security and Medicare," the senator added, "we need to repeal the Trump tax breaks for the rich and demand that the largest corporations in America finally start paying their fair share of taxes."
"The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
The GAO report doesn't name the specific companies that paid nothing in federal income taxes over the period the federal agency examined.
But separate analyses from outside organizations such as the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) have identified such corporations. In 2021, ITEP found that at least 55 large U.S. corporations including Nike, FedEx, HP, and Kinder Morgan paid $0 in federal taxes on 2020 profits.
Steve Wamhoff, ITEP's federal policy director, wrote in a blog post on Friday that the GAO's new study confirms that "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was an unprecedented gift to corporations."'
"What the GAO report really demonstrates is that no matter how you measure the federal corporate income tax, not much of it has been paid in recent years, and the 2017 tax law has brought it to a new low," Wamhoff added. "The corporate minimum tax enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act will help address this problem. But as ITEP has explained, another key step for Congress is to implement the international corporate minimum tax that the Biden administration negotiated with other governments, and which is designed to address the offshore tax dodging that will otherwise be very difficult to resolve."
Sanders, for his part, pointed to 2021 legislation he introduced alongside Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) that "would have restored the pre-Trump corporate tax rate of 35% and comprehensively shut down offshore corporate tax avoidance."
"The provisions in this bill to close offshore loopholes alone could raise over $1 trillion in revenue from multinational companies over the next decade," Sanders' office noted in a press release Friday.
The legislation, formally titled the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, never received a vote in the Senate or the House.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A study released Friday by the Government Accountability Office found that more than a third of large, profitable corporations in the United States paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2018, the year the regressive Trump-GOP tax cuts took effect.
The GAO analysis, commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), showed that "average effective tax rates—the percentage of income paid after tax breaks—among profitable large corporations fell from 16% in 2014 to 9% in 2018."
According to the GAO, the share of profitable large corporations that owed $0 in federal income taxes after credits rose from around 22% in 2014 to 34% in 2018.
"Each year from 2014-2018, about half of large corporations and a quarter of profitable ones didn't owe federal taxes," the GAO noted. "For example, profitable corporations may not owe taxes due to prior years' losses."
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which former President Donald Trump signed into law in December 2017, slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and authorized a slew of other giveaways that made it easier for large businesses and wealthy individuals to lower their tax bills.
"While House Republicans want to make huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because of their 'serious concern' about the deficit, they voted to provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to large corporations and the top one percent," Sanders said in a statement Friday. "The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
"Instead of cutting vital and popular programs like Social Security and Medicare," the senator added, "we need to repeal the Trump tax breaks for the rich and demand that the largest corporations in America finally start paying their fair share of taxes."
"The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
The GAO report doesn't name the specific companies that paid nothing in federal income taxes over the period the federal agency examined.
But separate analyses from outside organizations such as the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) have identified such corporations. In 2021, ITEP found that at least 55 large U.S. corporations including Nike, FedEx, HP, and Kinder Morgan paid $0 in federal taxes on 2020 profits.
Steve Wamhoff, ITEP's federal policy director, wrote in a blog post on Friday that the GAO's new study confirms that "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was an unprecedented gift to corporations."'
"What the GAO report really demonstrates is that no matter how you measure the federal corporate income tax, not much of it has been paid in recent years, and the 2017 tax law has brought it to a new low," Wamhoff added. "The corporate minimum tax enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act will help address this problem. But as ITEP has explained, another key step for Congress is to implement the international corporate minimum tax that the Biden administration negotiated with other governments, and which is designed to address the offshore tax dodging that will otherwise be very difficult to resolve."
Sanders, for his part, pointed to 2021 legislation he introduced alongside Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) that "would have restored the pre-Trump corporate tax rate of 35% and comprehensively shut down offshore corporate tax avoidance."
"The provisions in this bill to close offshore loopholes alone could raise over $1 trillion in revenue from multinational companies over the next decade," Sanders' office noted in a press release Friday.
The legislation, formally titled the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, never received a vote in the Senate or the House.
A study released Friday by the Government Accountability Office found that more than a third of large, profitable corporations in the United States paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2018, the year the regressive Trump-GOP tax cuts took effect.
The GAO analysis, commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), showed that "average effective tax rates—the percentage of income paid after tax breaks—among profitable large corporations fell from 16% in 2014 to 9% in 2018."
According to the GAO, the share of profitable large corporations that owed $0 in federal income taxes after credits rose from around 22% in 2014 to 34% in 2018.
"Each year from 2014-2018, about half of large corporations and a quarter of profitable ones didn't owe federal taxes," the GAO noted. "For example, profitable corporations may not owe taxes due to prior years' losses."
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which former President Donald Trump signed into law in December 2017, slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and authorized a slew of other giveaways that made it easier for large businesses and wealthy individuals to lower their tax bills.
"While House Republicans want to make huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid because of their 'serious concern' about the deficit, they voted to provide over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to large corporations and the top one percent," Sanders said in a statement Friday. "The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
"Instead of cutting vital and popular programs like Social Security and Medicare," the senator added, "we need to repeal the Trump tax breaks for the rich and demand that the largest corporations in America finally start paying their fair share of taxes."
"The situation has become so absurd that over a third of the largest and most profitable corporations in our country pay nothing in federal income taxes."
The GAO report doesn't name the specific companies that paid nothing in federal income taxes over the period the federal agency examined.
But separate analyses from outside organizations such as the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) have identified such corporations. In 2021, ITEP found that at least 55 large U.S. corporations including Nike, FedEx, HP, and Kinder Morgan paid $0 in federal taxes on 2020 profits.
Steve Wamhoff, ITEP's federal policy director, wrote in a blog post on Friday that the GAO's new study confirms that "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was an unprecedented gift to corporations."'
"What the GAO report really demonstrates is that no matter how you measure the federal corporate income tax, not much of it has been paid in recent years, and the 2017 tax law has brought it to a new low," Wamhoff added. "The corporate minimum tax enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act will help address this problem. But as ITEP has explained, another key step for Congress is to implement the international corporate minimum tax that the Biden administration negotiated with other governments, and which is designed to address the offshore tax dodging that will otherwise be very difficult to resolve."
Sanders, for his part, pointed to 2021 legislation he introduced alongside Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) that "would have restored the pre-Trump corporate tax rate of 35% and comprehensively shut down offshore corporate tax avoidance."
"The provisions in this bill to close offshore loopholes alone could raise over $1 trillion in revenue from multinational companies over the next decade," Sanders' office noted in a press release Friday.
The legislation, formally titled the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act, never received a vote in the Senate or the House.