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Sunday, September 26, 2004

Many of America's most profitable corporations pay no income taxes


Image courtesy of The Guardian

According to the advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice, 82 of America's most profitable corporations paid no income taxes in one or more years from 2001 to 2003. In the years they paid no taxes, these same 82 corporations made $102 billion in profits.

The corporate income tax rate is 35 percent...one would have thought these companies accumulated $35.6 billion in income tax liability during the years studied. Instead, these companies actually received a collective $12.6 billion in rebate checks on their taxes. The government paid them! Think about that the next time George W. Bush says taxes are being distributed equally (as he contended he would do in the 2000 presidential debates).

The following list of corporations were among those paying 0 taxes–or less–in at least one year from 2001 to 2003, according to CTJ:
AT&T, Time Warner, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Consolidated Edison, Southwest Airlines, Verizon, Kelly Services, Toys "R" Us, American Express, Marriott International, Wachovia, Disney, and 3M.

This is at a time when the U.S. is running a $422 billion annual deficit!

These are some of the consequences of corporate tax avoidance:
-Ordinary citizens will have to choose between losing public services or repaying a large federal debt to make up for the shortfall.
-Economic competition in the free market is hindered by government policies which favor certain corporations and bestow on them large tax loopholes which the rest of the economy doesn't share.

For the full article "Bush policies drive surge in corporate tax freeloading," go to the Citizens for Tax Justice website, where the report is available in PDF format.

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