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Companies paid CEOs more than they paid in taxes

Blue_State

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Citigroup, Abbott Laboratories, and AT&T are among the 26 companies that paid more to their CEOs in 2011 than they did in U.S. federal taxes, according to a study released on Thursday.

Tax breaks on research and development, past losses, and foreign-held earnings were among those lightening the tax load for many companies on the list, said the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C.

I know some people are going to make this an attack on the 1%, but I believe this highlights a huge problem with our tax code. Large Corporations are getting out of paying taxes or their fair share of taxes.

Companies paid CEOs more than they paid in taxes - CSMonitor.com
 
I know some people are going to make this an attack on the 1%, but I believe this highlights a huge problem with our tax code. Large Corporations are getting out of paying taxes or their fair share of taxes.

Companies paid CEOs more than they paid in taxes - CSMonitor.com

For the companies on the list, how much was defered? Its easy to a take a single calendar year and make this claim. Unless you add years on both ends, you don't get the whole picture which was probably the intent of the "study." What was the future tax liability (what do they owe from the deferment) for these companies?

It makes for a great headline but leaves a lot of important questions to be answered.
 
For the companies on the list, how much was defered? Its easy to a take a single calendar year and make this claim. Unless you add years on both ends, you don't get the whole picture which was probably the intent of the "study." What was the future tax liability (what do they owe from the deferment) for these companies?

It makes for a great headline but leaves a lot of important questions to be answered.

I clearly realize it is a 1% arguement that the article was going for. At least that is how it came off to me. The article did make me immeadiately think of GE and how they paid no taxes. There is an issue in our tax code. The deferments and rightoffs are ways to manipulate the free market by our government. I hate how we do taxes in this country.
 
Tax code is crap. There is no reason we should have a tax code that is over 71k pages. Its rediculous. But, this is the problem with these type of "snapshot" studies. Unless you factor in several years, you just don't get the real picture here.

Again, makes for a nice headline in an election year I guess.
 
heh...this isnt new news...they always paid less than their fair share....The rich and corporations love our tax code...thats why its never been changed and thats the only reason...>They get to whine incessantly how we have the Highest corporate tax rate in the world...then they get to pay nothing via the loopholes they created its a win win for them...and to their credit...they have even managed to get legions of non rich to carry their water for them....its really impressive
 
You meant that with a /sarcasm right?

No, no sarcasm. All employee salaries are taxed, so I'm trying to understand the outrage comparing overall corporate profit tax amounts with CEO pre-tax income levels.
 
No, no sarcasm. All employee salaries are taxed, so I'm trying to understand the outrage comparing overall corporate profit tax amounts with CEO pre-tax income levels.

I would say the size of the pools. I would think companies the size of GE and AT&T would pay more in taxes than any individual employee at any time. Think of the shear amount of assets and business done by one large corporation. Now take that CEO, he clearly does not have the amount of assets and holding as large as the company. It would seem that these companies would pay far more in taxes than any single employee. If you look at small businesses, ones smaller than 10 Million in sales a year, they usually pay more in taxes then all their employees combined.
 
The problem here is that someone else made money and I want it. Noone has the right to earn more than me or have more than me. Its not fair!

Seriously though, you have a problem with the tax code? What are you doing about it? The same people have been in power in this country for at least the last 50 years. (much longer but no need to look further back) Come November a hundred or so million people will go to the booths, and put the same people right back in. Then they are going to go around bitching about how corrupt and stupid politicians are and how much they dislike them. D or R doesnt really matter much. Both parties are working for two things. Money and power.

It amazes me how many people have a problem with our government, and have a problem with our laws, and keep the same people in office.
 
I would say the size of the pools. I would think companies the size of GE and AT&T would pay more in taxes than any individual employee at any time. Think of the shear amount of assets and business done by one large corporation. Now take that CEO, he clearly does not have the amount of assets and holding as large as the company. It would seem that these companies would pay far more in taxes than any single employee. If you look at small businesses, ones smaller than 10 Million in sales a year, they usually pay more in taxes then all their employees combined.

A single corporations expenditure for employee salaries is going to be more than their net profit. In GE's example, based on the limited information in their annual report, their employee costs are nearly 37 billion while their net profit was 20 billion.

If you eliminated corporate tax entirely while taxing all individual benefits, tax revenue to the government would rise.
 
I know some people are going to make this an attack on the 1%, but I believe this highlights a huge problem with our tax code. Large Corporations are getting out of paying taxes or their fair share of taxes.

Companies paid CEOs more than they paid in taxes - CSMonitor.com

what exactly is a "fair share of taxes"

companies don't really pay taxes. they collect money and give it to the government based on complex laws.

people ultimately pay the taxes whether they do business with the companies or own the companies
 
what exactly is a "fair share of taxes"

companies don't really pay taxes. they collect money and give it to the government based on complex laws.

people ultimately pay the taxes whether they do business with the companies or own the companies

Not 0. I have a problem with corporations keeping not paying taxes. I don't know what the fair share is, but it doesn't pass the does this make sense test with me that the CEO would pay more taxes than the Corporation he works for, given that corporation had a successful year.
 
Not 0. I have a problem with corporations keeping not paying taxes. I don't know what the fair share is, but it doesn't pass the does this make sense test with me that the CEO would pay more taxes than the Corporation he works for, given that corporation had a successful year.

Still ignoring the fact that this claim is based on just a one year snapshot? What was it last year? 10, 09, 08? What are the projections for 13,14, 15 when the deferments come up?

Still a valid question which goes to the core of this debate, what is their fair share? In 2010, corporate taxes plus their share of payroll taxes made up 30% of the collected federal revenue. So what should their contribution be?
 
I would say the size of the pools. I would think companies the size of GE and AT&T would pay more in taxes than any individual employee at any time. Think of the shear amount of assets and business done by one large corporation. Now take that CEO, he clearly does not have the amount of assets and holding as large as the company. It would seem that these companies would pay far more in taxes than any single employee. If you look at small businesses, ones smaller than 10 Million in sales a year, they usually pay more in taxes then all their employees combined.

Those companies do pay more taxes. They match SS and MC on every single employee.

Is it possuble that you don't fully understand how the tax code works?

The reason the tax code is so complicated, is to make it easier for the IRS to use loopholes to hit tax payers for years of back taxes that they didn't even know they owed, because there's no way any one person can be familiar with 70 thousnd pages of regulations.
 
Cool, individuals should pay more than our large corporations. Awesome.
 
Cool, individuals should pay more than our large corporations. Awesome.

What sort of a libertarian are you?

Everyone who gets PAID by the corporation, pays some form of the regular income tax *edit in addition to whatever payroll taxes they pay, and state taxes, and unemployment insurance (tax), etc. Why are you wanting to tax corporations more on top of that? Makes no sense. The general economic consensus is that corporate tax should approach zero, because what you tax you get less of...we want more business/economic growth.
 
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What sort of a libertarian are you?

Everyone who gets PAID by the corporation, pays some form of the regular income tax *edit in addition to whatever payroll taxes they pay, and state taxes, and unemployment insurance (tax), etc. Why are you wanting to tax corporations more on top of that? Makes no sense. The general economic consensus is that corporate tax should approach zero, because what you tax you get less of...we want more business/economic growth.

I want a fair marketplace. I dont' believe our current situation allows for that. We have to work with the system we have, not the one I want.

Personally, I don't think we should pay Federal Taxes at all. We should pay our states, and our states should pay the federal government.
 
The problem here is that someone else made money and I want it. Noone has the right to earn more than me or have more than me. Its not fair!

Seriously though, you have a problem with the tax code? What are you doing about it? The same people have been in power in this country for at least the last 50 years. (much longer but no need to look further back) Come November a hundred or so million people will go to the booths, and put the same people right back in. Then they are going to go around bitching about how corrupt and stupid politicians are and how much they dislike them. D or R doesnt really matter much. Both parties are working for two things. Money and power.

It amazes me how many people have a problem with our government, and have a problem with our laws, and keep the same people in office.

Great assumptions on my voting habits.
 
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