A picture from a British demonstration against tax dodging. (Photo credit: Flickr user Dominic’s pics.)
Mitt Romney’s offensive comments at a recent fundraiser that demeaned Americans who are too old or too poor to be asked to pay federal income taxes have set off a debate about economic fairness.
Yesterday, we showed you how Republicans support using the government toAi??funnelAi??tax dollars to the very rich.
Here’s another outrage. There are many massive corporations that get away with paying zero percent tax rates — or less (meaning they got tax benefits). Here’s just five that have gotten away with doing this in recent years:
- Boeing: The massive airline producer and weapons company is one of the worst freeloaders. From 2002 to 2011, it paid nothing in federal corporate income taxes. In fact, it even reported more than $2 billion in federal tax benefits over that period of time. This doesn’t even mention the billions of dollars Boeing gets from the Import-Export bank or the military budget.
- Wells Fargo:Ai??From 2008 to 2010, this megabank actually got away with paying a net tax rate of negative 1.4 percent.
- Verizon: This telecommunications corporation paid a negative 2.9 percent tax rate between 2008 and 2010. At the same time, it made nearly $32 billion in profits. It likely took some of that money to use for union-busting in the coming years.
- Pepco: This corporation paid a -57.6 percent income tax rate from 2008 to 2010 while at the same time accumulating $882 million in profits. That’s news that’s sure to make their customers — who have suffered from subpar service for years — groan.
- Bank of America: Bank of America didn’t pay a penny in federal income taxes in 2010, but it did report a tax benefit of almost a billion dollars.
How is it that massive corporations are able to get away with paying less in taxes than most middle-class Americans? They have massive armies of lobbyists and public relations gurus, and they’re able to flood campaign coffers with a nearly unlimited amount of money. That results in a tax code full of loopholes and unfair credits and deductions.
Romney’s right that we should be angry about people taking advantage of the government and taxpayer. But for the most part, those people aren’t poor and working-class Americans. They’re powerful corporations, the very same ones that Romney has failed to hold accountable.
Right on! The CORPORATE tax dodgers need to cough up taxes, including their back taxes. In my humble opinion, ALL corporations and businesses should pay the government a 50% of all PROFITS earned each quarter. With that money, America could 1) pay off its deficit, 2) fully fund healthcare and education and infrastructure programs that it needs to, 3) hire enough people in understaffed departments and agencies (NPS, Fish & Wildlife, FDA, et al.) to properly fulfill their mandates at decent salaries, 4) invest in clean energy research and development, 5) invest in scientific research and arts. It is far past time that the “fat cats” in America pay their share of its expenses.
willard the draft dodger should show the people his tax returns tho prove he paid taxes
then he should show us his birth certificate to prove hes even an anchor baby
then he should show us his grades to prove hes even smart enough to have gone to Harvard
then he should explain his involvement in the pro Vietnam war and why he never went I my self served in Nam in 67 and 68
then he should explain why none of his boys never served in Bushes wars
a good many of the 47% that he spoke of are vets of the last 4 wars
For so many years I have been raising the issue of unfairness in taxation. Excuses given have usually centered “corporations employ people and thus deserve a break.” My response to that has always been as long as the playing field is level and not tilted in favor of the super wealthy. The companies listed in the article are just the tip of the iceberg. As you know already I have the belief that the Iraq war was done so that 1) W could get his personal revenge against Saddam and 2) To create a huge cash cow for the American corporations charged with the rebuilding of Iraq, at the expense of allowing America becoming more pedestrian day by day.
I am amazed at how many americans actually believe anything that comes out of a republicans mouth anymore. Just look at the last 4 years. Because they hate Obama hmmmm I wonder why!!! they voted no to every piece of legislation Obama tried. they even voted NO NO NO 3 times to job creation and when Obama had 2 million jobs at the ready, they voted no because as Mitch McConnel said “we cant let Obama win anything” well they forgot about all of us hard working, family raising, Tax paying americans. I worked a lifetime and never only paid 14% tax like Romney.He and Ryan lie at every turn. Voucher for medicare would be a nightmare and seniors would lose $6400 per year or more. They lie about everything, every word they say about Obama I check and usually it’s total fabrication, almost like watching FOX make it up newscasts.
They’re Republicans. Live with it. Pick better parents and you could have done this too. Or maybe you could have ‘pulled yourself up by your bootstraps’. Instead you’re poor. Monatarily poor, functionally poor. Too bad! A Democrat? Your bad luck. My bad luck.
As Edward Kennedy sead on the house floor When is the Greed going to stop.
Think on this: If the larger corporations get taxed more, who do you think will pay? Their tax rate goes up, and then their prices. They will not feel a thing, but you will feel the pinch!
The results of the neo-con theory of “Trickle-down Economics” has shown, over the past thirty years, that money does not “Trickle-down”. It is expressly “Sucked UP”. Their whole intention is to shrink the middle class, bust unions, prevent us from joining together for strength, and reduce us all to “Low Wage Slaves”. Romneys whole tenure at Bain Capital was a study in depressing wages, inflating debt, and siphoning off assets and profits. Of course he got filthy rich. I was the blueprint for the money making scheme engineered by the mafia. The mafia did it through strong-arming businesses. Romney did it through leveraged buy outs. He borrowed huge amounts of money to buy troubled businesses, saddled the businesses with the additional debt, extracted consultation fees in the millions, sold off assets, raided pension funds, shipped jobs overseas, then walked away as the businesses sunk into bankruptcy. That does not sound like a job creating business plan to me.
Mary: isn’t it amazing that republicans still wont let go of trikle down even knowing that over the last 30 years it has proven not to work BUT when you ask a repubipcan why big oil and monster size comapnies making trillions of american dollars shouldn’t pay FAIR taxes, they say JOB CREATORS so we need to give them lopoles. NUTS isn’t it, I worked my entire life, never made 20 million like Romney and I never paid only 14% tax either like he does. VOTE Obama and democrat and save medicare, Fix it dont kill it, Obama wants to fix it and I agree because I dont want my children working all their lives and then no medicare, f we leave it to tea party the only folks that will have are the rich not us middle class, family raising, TAX PAYING, hard working americans.
Now he wants to do the samething to the whole country. He will sell our “Commons” (natural and mineral assets) to the highest bidder, bust what unions we have left, turn the treasury over to the Wall Street hucksters and make the whole nation a “Freedom to work (for coolie wages)” zone. He is the epitome of the Class Warfare the Corporate Class has been waging on the American People for the last 30 years.