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Study finds Corporate America avoided $60B in taxes (2010)

Objective Voice

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All I have to say is...:shock:

FoxNews.com:

The study also found that America's Fortune 100 companies, some of which were cited for avoiding U.S. taxes, took in nearly $90 billion in government contracts during the same period.

The report, released Thursday and titled “Corporate America Untaxed: Tax Avoidance on the Rise,” found that the most successful companies have added 44 new subsidiaries in countries recognized as tax havens since the Government Accountability Office examined the subject three years ago.


Among the identified tax dodgers are General Electric, Google, Dell and Merck.

“America’s richest corporations avoid $60 billion a year in taxes by hiding $1 trillion in profits overseas while making billions in federal contracts,” said the Greenlining Institute's general counsel, Samuel Kang, who co-authored the report.

“It’s unpatriotic, it’s unfair and we can’t afford it," he said. "It should be illegal, yet Congress is looking to cut the deficit by slashing Medicare, Social Security, food safety, education and health without collecting another dime from these wealthy companies.”

Still, the Fortune 100 American companies that earned the most criticism in the report accounted for $6.7 trillion in global revenue -- though they're benefiting from government contracts and tax breaks, that also adds up to nearly half of U.S. GDP last year.

Now, before anyone starts critisizing the above and start labelling me anti-rich, read what Ken Langone, Dir., NYSE, had to say about taxing the rich.

From MSNBC.com:

One solution he proposed is higher taxation, particularly for the wealthier in society who are getting benefits they don't deserve from entitlement programs such as Social Security.

Cuts to those programs have been an especially sensitive part in the debate as deficit reducers on the right insist some reform will be needed in entitlements while opponents on the left insist on higher taxes for higher earners.

Langone agrees with the higher taxation argument as long as those revenues are used toward debt reduction.

"People like me have to understand that it isn't business as usual," he said. "I think it's a travesty for a man of my success and my means to get anything from the federal government. I think I should pay more taxes."
 
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Let me get this right.......They avoid paying their taxes so the solution is to make them even higher? This is a problem Obama said he was going to tackle and as we see, he's done nothing of the sort.

GE avoids paying their taxes by moving over seas and the solution is to tax the successful grocery store owner at a higher rate?
 
Let me get this right.......They avoid paying their taxes so the solution is to make them even higher? This is a problem Obama said he was going to tackle and as we see, he's done nothing of the sort.

GE avoids paying their taxes by moving over seas and the solution is to tax the successful grocery store owner at a higher rate?

No, the solution is to remove the loopholes so that they cannot avoid paying their taxes. It's the same idea behind getting rid of the Capital Gains definition. Income is income, just because some people got Congress to call some income not income does not make that income not income. It should all be taxed the same. Get rid of these rules that allow companies to hide their taxes, they already get enough in hand outs and subsidies (free market my ass).
 
Let me get this right.......They avoid paying their taxes so the solution is to make them even higher? This is a problem Obama said he was going to tackle and as we see, he's done nothing of the sort.

GE avoids paying their taxes by moving over seas and the solution is to tax the successful grocery store owner at a higher rate?

The point is that we don't need delicate about their feelings when formulating policy. If everyone's out for themselves, then pull no punches.
 
Let me get this right.......They avoid paying their taxes so the solution is to make them even higher? This is a problem Obama said he was going to tackle and as we see, he's done nothing of the sort.

GE avoids paying their taxes by moving over seas and the solution is to tax the successful grocery store owner at a higher rate?

Clearly, the answer is to reward them with lower taxes...
 
Clearly, the answer is to reward them with lower taxes...

We have to! If we tax them, we won't have any jobs. Won't somebody PLEASE think of the jobs!?
 
The children needs these jobs!!!!

Yeah, but the damned government got involved and banned our kids from having difficult and dangerous jobs, instead opting for sending them to school instead. The horror of it all! Now our good American companies are FORCED to use Chinese child labor. Poor poor companies. Let's all have sympathy for them.
 
I think the majority of opinion on both sides is that they need to close tax loop-holes.
 
No, the solution is to remove the loopholes so that they cannot avoid paying their taxes. It's the same idea behind getting rid of the Capital Gains definition. Income is income, just because some people got Congress to call some income not income does not make that income not income. It should all be taxed the same. Get rid of these rules that allow companies to hide their taxes, they already get enough in hand outs and subsidies (free market my ass).

The report offers fresh ammunition to Democrats even though any deal now is unlikely to include tax increases.

Who ran things last year? The White House and both houses were run by the Dems and instead of addressing this problem the White House made one of the largest abusers their jobs czar. Tax increases are not going to address this problem.

I also sort of missed this the first time.

One solution he proposed is higher taxation, particularly for the wealthier in society who are getting benefits they don't deserve from entitlement programs such as Social Security.

What in the world is this supposed to mean? (outside of my point that it appears the solution some have come up with is to tax those who are successful which will do nothing for the problem)
 
The point is that we don't need delicate about their feelings when formulating policy. If everyone's out for themselves, then pull no punches.

Who is going to punch GE while they are in bed with the president?
 
Raise taxes on businesses, watch the little guy suffer from higher prices, but hey, those ultra rich will suffer TOO!
 
These are not "loopholes" they are the tax code.

Can you wrap your mind around the reality that the tax code contains loopholes?
 
Can you wrap your mind around the reality that the tax code contains loopholes?

Loopholes are where people take advantage of a law that was never intended to allow them to do what they are doing. These are not loopholes. They were written to allow them to do the very things they are doing.
 
Can you wrap your mind around the reality that the tax code contains loopholes?

yes but many people don't understand the concept. for example not being taxed on income you earned in another jurisdiction and paid taxes to that jurisdiction is no loophole. a loophole is hedge fund managers counting their earned income as capital gains income
 
Loopholes are where people take advantage of a law that was never intended to allow them to do what they are doing. These are not loopholes. They were written to allow them to do the very things they are doing.

exactly-like liberals claiming there is a "gun show loophole" when the laws at a gun show are exactly the same as any other place in the jurisdiction.
 
A loophole is the thread where a female was able to get away with giving another female AIDS because the law stated their must be penetration involved (or something like that). They never envisioned this scenario.

These tax laws are doing exactly what they were intended to do.
 
And I bet millions of Americans collected welfare and didn't pay any taxes as well....
 
You're right, it's not a loophole. And your right, neither party really does anything that might actually get the wealthy to pay. But, it is a problem all the same, and should be tackled.
 
If your saying any taxes, you'd likely be wrong.

You're right... They probably paid taxes for those latest Nike's they bought with government money. Oh wait, its not their money in the first place...lol
 
Let's realize something here people... Greed has killed america from both sides. The poor for demanding more entitlements and believing they "deserve" more and the rich for the $$
 
You're right... They probably paid taxes for those latest Nike's they bought with government money. Oh wait, its not their money in the first place...lol

:roll:

Have you ever been poor? Just asking . . . :coffeepap
 
Let's realize something here people... Greed has killed america from both sides. The poor for demanding more entitlements and believing they "deserve" more and the rich for the $$

That's a huge lobby the poor has. Those bastards.
 
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