30 of largest U.S. Companies pay no income tax

[hal2kilo]

35% of U.S. corps pay no or negative taxes. I posted this in another thread over a month ago. They can have their rates lowered when they all start paying their fair share. Shouldn't they have "skin in the game" if they want to be considered a "person"?

Some "persons" are more equal than others.

 

[CPA]

tax savings are directly converted to profit. or it is easiest way possible to make profit - by lobbying and taking all breaks that exist in tax code.

The highlighted is the crux of it. Corporations just don't make the decision not to pay taxes, they use the tax law to reduce their liability, just like we do.

When you throw in depreciation, amortization, research credits, hiring credits and several other credits, it's possible to get 0 or below. This is good corporate stewardship and stupid federal government.

Lower the Corporate Tax rate and get rid of all of the stupid deductions and you won't have this mess.

 

[CPA]

35% of U.S. corps pay no or negative taxes. I posted this in another thread over a month ago. They can have their rates lowered when they all start paying their fair share. Shouldn't they have "skin in the game" if they want to be considered a "person"?

Fair share? Which is what?

We won't get into all of the money corporations pump into the economy that's not funnelled first through governments or the billions in payroll they pay.

 

[Anarchist420]

Nope but the current president could send a bill to congress to reform the tax code. Lower rates in return for getting rid of loop holes. I think lowering the corporate rate to between 20-25 percent but get rid of every single loop hole but health insurance would be a good starting point. There is plenty of support on the right to lower rates and get rid of loop holes.

That wouldn't keep the price of health care up and 25% effective rate is still too high. It's best to reduce the top marginal corporate tax rate to 15% and take away a few deductions and some loopholes (so that the average effective rate will be <10%) as well as the one for health care expenses which can then be deducted from personal income tax.

 

[Anarchist420]

Fair share? Which is what?

We won't get into all of the money corporations pump into the economy that's not funnelled first through governments or the billions in payroll they pay.

Agreed. Fair share is completely subjective. The only thing that's not just is Federal spending (especially the level it's at now) which is the real tax.

 

[soundforbjt]

Fair share? Which is what?

We won't get into all of the money corporations pump into the economy that's not funnelled first through governments or the billions in payroll they pay.

They're "fair share" is the rate they should be paying. Cut all the loopholes. They're nothing but welfare queens.

 

[MovingTarget]

35% of U.S. corps pay no or negative taxes. I posted this in another thread over a month ago. They can have their rates lowered when they all start paying their fair share. Shouldn't they have "skin in the game" if they want to be considered a "person"?

Haven't you heard? Only flesh and blood persons (aka poor people) need "skin in the game"! :hmm:

 

[Ns1]

since the article is worthless and doesn't say WHY the corporations paid no taxes, I'll just leave this here:

A tax loss carryforward, sometimes abbreviated as a loss carryforward, refers to the practice of applying a previous year's loss to reduce the current year's profits for tax purposes.

For example, if a company earned $50 million in the current year, but lost $50 million the previous year, the company would not owe any taxes, as the previous year's losses wold offset the current year's profits.

Tax loss carryforwards are considered a Deferred Tax Asset on a company's balance sheet.

According to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), tax losses can only be carried forward for 7 years. If a company does not expect its profits in the near future will be large enough to use up its tax loss carryforwards before they expire, it must report a Valuation Allowance on its balance sheet to account for the fact that it will not be able to make use of these loss carryforwards.

 

[halik]

This is insane.

If I didn't pay income tax, the Government would take anything I have and throw my ass in prison.

11-3-2011

http://news.yahoo.com/thirty-companies-paid-no-income-tax-2008-2010-042531293.html

Thirty companies paid no income tax 2008-2010: report


Thirty large and profitable U.S. corporations paid no income taxes in 2008 through 2010, said a study on Thursday that arrives as Congress faces rising demands for tax reform, but seems unable or unwilling to act.

Pepco Holdings, a Washington, D.C.-area power company, had the lowest effective tax rate, at negative 57.6 percent, among the 280 Fortune 500 companies studied.

Their report also listed General Electric Co, Paccar Inc, PG&E Corp, Computer Sciences Corp and NiSource Inc as among the 30 that paid no taxes. All 280 corporations examined were profitable over the period.

As Congress and the Obama administration struggle with a sluggish economy and high deficits, corporations are pressing Capitol Hill for more tax breaks, including one that would let them bring home overseas profits at a reduced tax rate.

Said the report, "If we are going to get our nation's fiscal house in order, increasing corporate income taxes should play an important role."

48&#37; of people paid no federal income tax in 08 either - if you're not making money and taking investment losses, you tend to not owe taxes as an individual or a legal entity.

 

[soundforbjt]

since the article is worthless and doesn't say WHY the corporations paid no taxes, I'll just leave this here:

And that's fine, but these corps in most cases have been making record profits, not losses for the past few years.

 

[Ns1]

And that's fine, but these corps in most cases have been making record profits, not losses for the past few years.

You understand that the timeframe for the OP is 2008 - 2010 and for those tax years, corporations can use tax losses extending as far back as 2001

I'm not going to do the research to dig up this information

I'm not saying that this IS the reason, only that this is one possible reason.

 

[sactoking]

Full of fail.

A) OP premise is wrong. If OP paid no taxes he would not have his ass thrown in prison so long as he owed no taxes. It's quite easy for a company to owe no taxes, regardless of "profit".
B) GAAP profit is not the same as Federal Taxable income.
C) The tax law is what it is. Don't blame the companies for following the law, blame Congress for kowtowing and changing the law.
D) According to the article, PG&E paid no income tax. Yet I can look at their annual statement for 2010 and see that they've paid $1.5 billion in income taxes in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The 2010 effective tax rate was 33.9&#37;.
E) According to the article, GE paid no income tax. Yet I can look at their annual statement for 2010 and see that they've paid $1 billion in income taxes in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

And so on.

 

[jhu]

If Corporations are citizens, they should be taxed on overseas income just like every American citizen is.

If I work overseas, I can claim a foreign tax credit for any money I make in the foreign country that was taxed by said foreign country. Doesn't mean I didn't pay taxes. It just means I didn't pay taxes to the USA for money I earned abroad. I still, however, paid taxes to the foreign country.

 

[ShawnD1]

Said the report, "If we are going to get our nation's fiscal house in order, increasing corporate income taxes should play an important role."

It won't do anything because The Gubment won't close any of the loop holes. They can jack the rate to 100% and it would still collect no money as long as there is a loop hole to slip through.

 

[CPA]

They're "fair share" is the rate they should be paying. Cut all the loopholes. They're nothing but welfare queens.

Fair enough, and do the same with individual taxes. Get rid of EIC - and I'm serious.

 

[soundforbjt]

Fair enough, and do the same with individual taxes. Get rid of EIC - and I'm serious.

No argument from me. No mortage tax breaks either.

 

[piasabird]

There are not many corporations left with all of their holdings in the United States. Most of these so-called US Corps have operations all over the world. If you look at a corporation like Dell they have more foreign employees than US Employees. Income tax is not the only kind of taxes they are faced with. They have to pay their supplier, their employees, their shippers, pay for real estate, factories, utilities, insurance, etc. Then after that they have to pay their stockholders, and then their stockholders are paying tax on dividends.

 

[Ausm]

No argument from me. No mortage tax breaks either.

Sounds good to me I have everything paid off too

 

[Fern]

Full of fail.

A) OP premise is wrong. If OP paid no taxes he would not have his ass thrown in prison so long as he owed no taxes. It's quite easy for a company to owe no taxes, regardless of "profit".
B) GAAP profit is not the same as Federal Taxable income.
C) The tax law is what it is. Don't blame the companies for following the law, blame Congress for kowtowing and changing the law.
D) According to the article, PG&E paid no income tax. Yet I can look at their annual statement for 2010 and see that they've paid $1.5 billion in income taxes in 2008, 2009, and 2010. The 2010 effective tax rate was 33.9%.
E) According to the article, GE paid no income tax. Yet I can look at their annual statement for 2010 and see that they've paid $1 billion in income taxes in 2008, 2009, and 2010.

And so on.

This^

The article is crap.
-------------------------------

However, it is about time that we revisit the code and analyze for provisions that have outlived their use or are now being used in unintended ways, remove incentives for industries that are no longer needed and perhaps adopt new ones that are.

We re-write the tax code about every 20 yrs or so. So, it is now time to do so again. We had a 1913 code, a 1939 code, a 1954 code, and a 1986 code. So, it's been 25 yrs since a thorough re-write.

Over the past 25 yrs much has been added on to the code that is likely unnecessary. E.g., back in the day we had a real need to encourage software development. It was considered a national security interest as well as a force for strong economic growth so we granted an "R&D" expense for it. Now, however, we find that game developers are able to take advantage of it even though that was never foreseen or intended. Likewise, in many ways the economic climate has significantly changed and the tax code should be re-written to account it.

Fern

 

[Patranus]

Seems like we need a flat tax. Hrm.

 

[Triumph]

If Corporations are citizens, they should be taxed on overseas income just like every American citizen is.

I won't be convinced that a corporation is a citizen, until I see the state of Texas put one of them to death.

 

[hal2kilo]

I won't be convinced that a corporation is a citizen, until I see the state of Texas put one of them to death.

This. And it would be Texas or maybe Florida first.

 

[thegimp03]

These companies are just hiring smart tax accountants and consultants and using the loopholes available to them. No crime found.

 

[Throckmorton]

Seems like we need a flat tax. Hrm.

If there is a flat tax, I will take the wealth I need to survive from you by force. With Herman Cain's 9 9 9 pizza deal, that comes out to a few thousand dollars. I'm sure you have that buried in your back yard in the form of gold buillion. Don't stop me from digging it up and I won't have to hurt you.

 

[Nebor]

If I didn't pay income tax, the Government would take anything I have and throw my ass in prison.

Well, your house was cleared of everything you own, so phase 1 is complete. I can't wait for phase 2, where you disappear into prison.