Most firms pay no income taxes - Congress

[abelenkpe]

Most firms pay no income taxes - Congress

Study finds that the majority of domestic and foreign corporations in the United States avoid paying federal income taxes.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/12/news/economy/corporate_taxes/

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies and 68% of foreign corporations do not pay federal income taxes, according to a congressional report released Tuesday.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue.

The study showed that 28% of foreign companies and 25% of U.S. corporations with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in sales paid no federal income taxes in 2005. Those companies totaled a combined $372 billion in sales for the largest foreign companies and $1.1 trillion in revenue for the biggest U.S. companies.

(more at link)

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Yeah, we've got to lower tax rates for corporations otherwise we're gonna scare them away and they'll take all the jobs too! :yoiks:

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

1. Of course not... with lobbyist in the pockets of politicians, you can have your own

personal tax loopholes written for you too!
All we need is your nonrefundable bribe.

[indepat]

2. But the only available solution to our deficit and debt malaise is to renege on previously paid-for

social security and Medicare benefits: yeah, that's the only way to fix this nagging problem. :patriot:

[abelenkpe]

3. +1000 nt :)

[Scuba]

4. Yeah, but just having a corporate income tax law is good, cause then....

...the wealthy can say their capital gains were already taxed at the corporate level, so a low capital gains rate is only fair.




Meanwhile, People who actually work for a living pay a much higher rate than those who own for a living. And they say labor has too much influence in politics. Yeah, that's it.

[EC]

5. Well, if they are people

shouldn't they be paying taxes just like the rest of us? Instead states and cities offer them no taxes to bribe them to employ people.

[upi402]

6. except that rich folks pay squat. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Talk to the people who wrote the rules

The entire tax industry adds no value to the GNP but is massive. Simply the tax code and you can start to slay that dragon. The more you simplify it, the fewer tax accountants and lawyers are employed by it and the fairer revenue generation can become. Not arguing for the Forbes Fair Tax crap, but a rethought and adequately modeled and understood tax code with the goal of appropriate and fair progressive taxation, not a force for social engineering.

The term loophole is misleading. Deductions were put in place for notionally good reasons. However, in the process of attempting social engineering through the tax code, mistakes are made, potential uses not fully understood etc. That needs to end. A full rewrite is needed.

I don't blame the players, I blame those who wrote the rules...and screwed us all