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We Pay Taxes. Most Corporations Don’t. |
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Most corporations, including a large majority of foreign companies doing business in the United States, pay no income taxes, according to a report released today.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that two-thirds of both American and foreign companies doing business here end up avoiding all income tax obligations to the federal government, despite corporate sales totaling $2.5 trillion.
According to the GAO, each year from 1998 to 2005, an average of 68 percent of the foreign companies operating in the United States paid zero federal income taxes. During the same period, 66 percent of U.S. domestic corporations paid no federal income taxes to the government.
In 2005, 28 percent of large foreign companies (over $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales) doing business here paid no taxes, even though they reported $372 billion in gross receipts that year.
Twenty five percent of the largest U.S. corporations had $1.1 trillion in gross sales in 2005 and yet paid no federal income taxes for the year. Click here to read the report.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) says the report is a “shocking indictment of the current tax system.”
It’s shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country. The tax system that allows this wholesale tax avoidance is an embarrassment and unfair to hardworking Americans who pay their fair share of taxes. We need to plug these tax loopholes and put these corporations back on the tax rolls. It’s time for the big corporations to pay their fair share.
Says Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.):
This report makes clear that too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair share in the United States.
Levin and Dorgan requested the GAO study.
Despite the fact that many corporations pay no taxes, Sen. John McCain is proposing to cut the corporate tax rate.
3 Comments
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Thank you James for this great article. I also read your post on Wal-Mart–another great one. I hope that those who have not will sign the petition. It’s well worth the effort and we only have until tomorrow to do so.
Regarding corporate welfare and the conservative mind-set that keeps them in place, there are no two greater enemies of our Democracy. You will see this on my website too http://iflizwerequeen.com.
Where, by the way, James, I’m putting a blurb and a link to this article. I hope to encourage more people to hook into the AFL-CIO blog as you offer not only great truth, but also easy ways that only take a few seconds for people to participate in the democratic process.
GO LABOR! GO DEMOCRACY
Liz, the Queen
If you pay a lot of taxes which most working families do, you will never have a decent secure life. The present tax system causes the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer
How ironic that McCain is proposing to cut corporate taxes, when for most corporations their tax rate is already at zero. It is no wonder that our country is going bankrupt. Let me repeat:
IT IS NO WONDER THAT OUR COUNTRY IS GOING BANKRUPT!
Taxes on a trillion dollars could guarantee a very high quality of life for every single American. It could guarantee the solvency of our nation. How much money do the corporate elite really need? One can only drive one car at a time, live in one house at a time, only wear one set of clothes at a time, etc. and guess what, you can’t take it with you.