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Bank of America, General Electric, Pay No US Federal Taxes
Dakini
Veteran
Bank of America hasn't paid federal taxes in the US the last few years. They're registered in a dozen off-shore tax havens. In fact, they filed with the IRS a $5.4 billion loss in 2010.
General Electric also paid no tax in 2010. "GE claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion in that year. GE's extraordinary success is based on aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks with innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits off shore."
Don't you love that term, "innovative accounting"? They have a team of lawyers that works all the angles of tax law for GE's benefit.
read it and weep: http://publicintelligence.net/bank-of-america-ge-pay-zero-federal-taxes/
General Electric also paid no tax in 2010. "GE claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion in that year. GE's extraordinary success is based on aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks with innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits off shore."
Don't you love that term, "innovative accounting"? They have a team of lawyers that works all the angles of tax law for GE's benefit.
read it and weep: http://publicintelligence.net/bank-of-america-ge-pay-zero-federal-taxes/
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Comments
Corporations do a lot for the betterment of society, wealth creation, job creation, innovation. But their goods arrive at stores on roads we all paid for. They hire workers who have been educated by schools we all pay for.
Don't they have a civic responsibility to help continue the social structure they use to be succesful?
In my opinion any corporation that accepts government breaks, bailouts or preferential treatment should agree to some strict rules. My personal one is that the highest paid exec is not paid more than 10X the lowest paid worker. This is more the ratio on Europe and I belived companies like Ben and Jerry's have chosen to do this. It is criminal that the system that encourages us to work hard and have additional education and skills is still paying so low that many of my families on assistance have 1 or 2 working adults.
Sorry is my research is old or I am off topic.
I just read 3 cups of Deceit. That is a book people shoud read if they donate to the pennies programs. I love the writer John Krakauer and think he did an honest and fair job. I got the 'narcissist' vibe by page 12. If these are the people in charge they really do not care, you can call an NPD an asshole to their face and it is pretty much ok with them (based on my most recent research).
I agree, a thread on this topic would be good. I've read reviews of Krakauer's book, and comments to the reviews, and it sounds like Krakauer had a personal ax to grind, first, and second, quite a few people have said K's book itself is full of inaccuracies.
I'd advise that after reading a critique of anyone who's doing a Herculean job in some of the most difficult conditions known on Earth, you do some research on the critic, and on the whole issue, before you buy into the critic. Several comments I read said Krakauer only examined the budget for 2009, and the other years contained no irregularities, why didn't he examine those? There are a number of holes of that nature in Krakauer's "research" , which to me screams of bias. Was Mortensen perfect? Nobody is. Did his book contain inaccuracies? Probably (he had a publisher to contend with, remember. They can force changes on a book once a contract is signed), and so what? He still build schools against all odds.
So, where's that dedicated thread?
"Habitat For Humanity is a non-profit ecumenical ministry" --from their website, www.habitat.com
Meanwhile...back to topic on corporate greed and tax evasion.
Also, it was mentioned that there would be better schools if the rich got taxed more, that is not really the case. The money for schools does not come from your income tax, but from your property tax. The reason why children from rich families go to better schools is because their family pays higher property tax which allows for education to get a higher budget and pay for better things. But in poor areas many families do not pay property taxes since they live in government homes or the land they are on is worthless. That means there is little to no money being put forth by the parents of the poorer kids for their education while the children of rich parents are shelling out alot of money for their kids schools and education.
The higher tax brackets always used to pay more, and whaddaya know--not only did the rich and the middle class contribute to the economy, the poor weren't as poor as they had been. Some went to school and were able to join the middle class. And industry paid high school dropouts enough that they were boosted into the middle class, what with health insurance, union benefits, and so on. (The auto industry, for example.)
The highest tax bracket now has a tax rate of around 35%. No wonder the country's going down the tubes! State workers are getting laid off because federal subsidies to state offices have been slashed. Obama's plan to stimulate alternative energy development for export (we used to be a manufacturing country with lots of exports) was dropped for lack of funds. The military is being cut. I can't even keep up with all the cuts and the resulting fallout. The rich aren't spending the money they save from tax cuts (the theory originally was that they would spend the money on creating more jobs), they're hoarding it in offshore accounts, are investing it in their own private accounts, or are spending it on themselves. That's no way to stimulate an economy.
And guess what happens when so many people lose their jobs? They all go on public assistance. But welfare offices have been running out of money--it comes from federal taxes, but the tax base has shrunk radically. Have you been to Latin America? That's where we're headed--those extremes of rich and poor. Do you want to end up selling gum or lottery tickets in the street?
If the rich and the corporations don't pay taxes, who will? How will we pay to replace our crumbling infrastructure? We can't even pay for basics, like replacing and expanding a failing electrical grid, antiquated sewer systems, etc., let alone cover unemployment and other public benefits, not to mention job stimulus programs, which, needless to say, are desperately needed right now.
Has anyone noticed how the tax structure in many states has become very regressive? Without solid revenues from income tax, capital gains tax, property tax (CA and WA rolled back their property taxes), too much is hinging on sales taxes. That means the poor are paying more than their share.
At the very least, tax loopholes for corporations must be closed. Those statistics in the OP are obscene. I don't think corporations should be considered people. But since they are legally "people", they should pay taxes like people.
Savings and reinvestment by those with excess income also help the economy but how much of that gets invested and saved overseas.
Ronald Reagan
It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.
Will Rogers
The problem with political jokes is they get elected.
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Henry Kissinger
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Groucho Marx