"Big corporations use loopholes to dodge taxes, report says" November 04, 2011|By Jia Lynn Yang, Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Many of this country’s biggest companies paid no federal taxes - or even made money through credits and refunds from the government - over the past three years by using an array of loopholes and tax breaks, according to a report released yesterday.
This as the same government says they must slash social spending programs.
The authors examined the finances of 280 corporations from 2008 through 2010 and found that 30 paid no tax or used loopholes to wind up with negative tax rates.
Which means they GET MONEY FROM the GOVERNMENT, right?
Gee, they only let the poor keep what they paid in; they don't give them more -- and yet here they are shoveling taxpayer money at profitable corporations.
Under the federal tax code, corporations are supposed to pay 35 percent of their profits in taxes. But the study found many companies used legal tax breaks that allowed them to pay lower rates than ordinary Americans.
The report, compiled by the nonprofits Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, was published as corporations and White House officials have pushed for a reform of the corporate tax code. Powerful business lobbying groups, including the Business Roundtable, have said they want lawmakers to lower the overall 35 percent tax rate in exchange for closing some loopholes. These lobbyists frequently cite this rate when arguing that US firms pay more than their foreign competitors.
Some corporations pushed back at the report, saying it relied on fuzzy accounting.
The “findings in this and other recent reports have been more politically motivated than truthful,’’ said Robert Varettoni, a spokesman for Verizon, which was cited in the report for having a negative 3 percent rate from 2008 through 2010. “The fact is, Verizon fully complies with all tax laws and pays its fair share of taxes.’’
Which means the government sent them a taxpayer-funded check.
Related: Looking Over the Verizon On Jobs
Good thing those economic numbers were revised up the government, 'eh?
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General Electric, for instance, paid a rate of minus 45 percent, the report said. GE did not respond to requests for comment.
Why did the newspaper leave it like that?
Nothing about GE's paying(?) "no federal tax bill last year, even though it turned a $14.2 billion profit," or the fact that GE got a $3.2 billion refund courtesy of the American taxpayer who is facing social service cuts.
Yeah, that's BILLION with a B!
Also see: State Street Stealers
See where your tax loot IS going?
The paper also noted that defense contractors paid notably low rates, averaging about 15 percent.
Why does that not surprise me in the least?
Gas and electric utilities also tend to pay less. Last year, Pepco Holdings, a utility serving the Washington area, made $229 million in profits and claimed $270 million in tax credits, making the company’s tax rate about minus 118 percent....
So how much was their "refund?"
The report said that many other companies took advantage of tax breaks that favor certain industries, including drilling for oil and gas, making video games, building NASCAR racetracks, producing ethanol, and making movies.
Related: Uniting With Hollywood
State tax credits help cover stars' pay
That's a good use of taxpayer dollars, 'eh?
Also see: Fewer films made in Mass.
Yeah, you didn't need $15 million for anything important, Massachusetts cities and towns.
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And honestly, I have had it with corporate propaganda posing as news:
"Companies’ record debt: Why that corporate cash pile isn’t so impressive" November 18, 2011|By Bernard Condon, Associated Press
NEW YORK - Hardly a day goes by without some politician or pundit pointing out that companies are hoarding cash - roughly $3 trillion of it. If only they would spend it, the thinking goes, the economy might get better.
But the story is not as simple as that. Though it seems to have escaped nearly everyone’s notice, companies have piled up even more debt lately than they have cash. So they are not as free to spend as they may seem.
Whatever, corporate media. They are un-f***ing-believable.
“The record cash story is bull market baloney,’’ said David Stockman, a former US budget director.
US companies are sitting on $358 billion more cash than they had at the start of the recession in December 2007, according to the latest Federal Reserve figures, from June. But in the same period, what they owed rose $428 billion.
Before the recession, you had to go back at least six decades to find a time when companies were so burdened by debt.
Companies borrow money all the time, of course. They borrow to build factories, cover expenses, even make payroll. The problem: Debt doesn’t go away. A business can cut costs during a recession. But it can’t just shred the IOUs.
Related: Debt -- the very essence of banking industry
Heavy debt means companies could have to dip into those reserves of cash to pay their lenders. And when interest rates eventually go up, companies will have to spend more money just to service the debt....
So the bankers have everybody by the balls, huh?
The financial picture is at least better for the biggest publicly traded firms. Nonfinancial companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 are making more money than ever and adding to their cash fast.
Related:
"Banks with assets exceeding $10 billion drove the bulk of the earnings growth. They made up 1.4 percent of all banks but accounted for about $29.8 billion of the industry’s earnings in the third quarter. Those are the largest banks, such as Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. Most of these banks have recovered with help from federal bailout money and record-low borrowing rates."
The rates were low for them as they rake Europe over the coals?
“There are almost two economies out there - the big S&P 500 companies, then everyone else,’’ said Michael Thompson, managing director of S&P’s valuation and risk strategies.
What do you mean almost?
But this sunny picture for the largest companies is marred by debt, too.
Give me a frikkin' break. At least we know why banks made $30 billion last quarter.
Since the start of the recession, S&P 500 companies have borrowed an additional 44 cents for every additional dollar they have hoarded in cash. For many companies, debt has risen more than cash.
Which means they are really not in debt, are they?
Drug maker Pfizer added $3.5 billion to cash from the start of the recession. But it added $28 billion of debt, according to FactSet. PepsiCo added $22 billion more debt than cash. Hewlett-Packard added $16 billion more; Wal-Mart, $13 billion.
Yeah, those poor conglomerates. I wonder what their tax refund was.
The lack of fear about debt is an about-face from before the recession. Back then, Wall Street worried that many companies had borrowed too much.
Really?
Didn't give a crap about their own houses, 'eh?
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