CEOs who make more than their companies pay in taxes - chicagotribune.com Hm 25 corporations paid their CEO more than what they paid in taxes... GE actually recorded a tax BENEFIT of 1.1 BILLION dollars, like what the fuck? """HOUSTON -- As you work on your taxes this month, here's something to raise your hackles: Some of the world's biggest, most profitable corporations enjoy a far lower tax rate than you do--that is, if they pay taxes at all. The most egregious example is General Electric ( GE - news - people ). Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. Avoiding taxes is nothing new for General Electric. In 2008 its effective tax rate was 5.3%; in 2007 it was 15%. The marginal U.S. corporate rate is 35%. In Pictures: What The 25 Top U.S. Companies Pay In Taxes How did this happen? It's complicated. GE's tax return is the largest the IRS deals with each year--some 24,000 pages if printed out. Its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs in at more than 700 pages. """"""""""""""""""" Tax Shell Game: How Much Did OffShore Tax Havens Cost You In 2010? - U.S. PIRG IN THE UNITED STATES, every year we lose $100 billion to lost tax revenue. Effectively costing every tax filer $434. Enough to feed a family of four for 3 weeks. Revisiting the cost of the Bush tax cuts - The Fact Checker - The Washington Post And then another trilliion for the uber rich!! And a trillion for war... * * * Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power And 80% still own less than 7% But just remember, its not the rich people who control and ruin our country for their own economic goals, its the poor people on welfare.. http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/15-shocking-poverty-statistics/ And 15% of us are poor. But they choose to be so they can live off the gov't because it is really worth it... remember: Its not bad gov't policy and or risky behavior by the (fed) banks increasing the povery rate, its the poor themselves trying to be poor!
Desperately grasping for an excuse to defend them I guess this is trickle down theory in action huh...
Desperate? I'll admit I'm inclined to blame the government for providing perverse incentives, but I'm more interested in the truth than you guys. Seems you're only interested in villifying rich people. If we want to close the loop-holes maybe we should be talking about what they are... instead of how evilz the companies are for taking advantage of them. Doesn't the CEO of GE currently work in the Obama administration?
I hope you're not including me in 'you guys.' It seems as though because I say the middle class is being treated unfairly, you assume I like Obama. But we are talking about the same thing. And yes the CEO does. And they probably did get that refund because of green investments and the like. But it's just there's this attitude here that corporations want whats best for us and the poor people are leeching us dry and its unfair... The whole story needs to be told...
It's not like the government just comes up with these loopholes for shits and giggles. Corporations pay good money to influence policy.
I think they are both leeching us dry, and the corporations should obviously take priority over the poor. I support the corporate income tax and I wish more people would focus on that before targeting the personal income tax. It seems the entire national debate on taxes focuses on a +/- 3% change in personal income tax... it's a ruse. We should lower corporate income tax and enforce it, no write-offs for bullshit like green energy when we face the deficits we do.
Truth, truth, truth Which is why if Jon huntsman wins the primary I will not be voting for Obama... but it will be some whacko like backmann or perry.. leaving no choice which is how they want it.
The funny part is alot of the people complaining that the rich dont pay enough in taxes, are also arguing that we need to use government to shift to green policies via incentives. Should the rich corporations both take the investment hit on movng to green, AND pay more taxes for the rest of the country to live on? This is not directed at OP, more or less an observation im making based on what i hear some people saying when discussing these subjects seperately. Once again im with Aaron ( shocker i know) Low taxes for everyone, no loopholes for anyone is a win all around.
I honestly dont know many people around this forum whom believe welfare and the poor are a bigger problem than corporate welfare and political corruption. Social welfare is a different face of the same beast. Since the bottom percentage of the population cant sustain the pressure being put on it by the corporate welfare and corruption, the government throws it some table scraps to make them think the government cares. If the government cared they would stop making their friends rich off the backs of the lower and middle class, and once the pressure was released there would be less need for welfare. There is a pretty large misconception that libertarians are blaming the poor and welfare and general. This is not true of myself. My personal opinion is they are using welfare to pretend they are not commiting robbery day in day out. I don't want welfare abolished so some numbers on my pay stub go up or down a little. I want them to stop creating a need for welfare in the first place.