G.E. gets $3.2 billion tax refund -

[TBF]

Huh, somehow I don't think my taxes are going to come out nearly this good:

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.
Drew Angerer/The New York Times

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: March 24, 2011

A PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS LIAISON

In January, President Obama named Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric’s chief executive, to head the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. “He understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy,” Mr. Obama said.

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?_r=1&hp

Comments?

[KathieG]

1. This makes me sick.

[xchrom]

2. and who is it that has the president's ear on important economic matters? nt

[snappyturtle]

3. I don't think I want breakfast anymore. Lost my appetite. nt

[Canuckistanian]

4. That is OBSCENE

"America has one of the highest corporate taxes in the world" is a giant LIE.

[Stuart G]

5. Crazy..

Crazy..:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Octafish]

6. Took The New York Times long enough to cover corporate tax-dodging.

More than a few people have been sending them press releases about greedy, offshoring freeloaders:

Stop Corporate Tax Dodging: Talking Points and Background Information

Stop Corporate Tax Cheats! U.S. Uncut Movement Goes Global

FTR: My LLC -- I'm a partner -- paid about 38-percent of our revenue, between income and social security taxes. I also don't like the way Michigan and Uncle Sam are using a lot of it.

[TBF]

7. Ugland House

Nearly 19,000 global corporations have a mail drop at Ugland House, a single building in the Cayman Islands. Ugland House is the legal address of these overseas corporate subsidiaries, many set up for the purposes of avoiding taxes.

This is a very interesting article.

[Octafish]

26. Here's some more on offshoring, courtesy of Lucy Komisar and DU...

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

[dkf]

8. Tax exemptions are unfair period

We should stop trying to shape behavior through tax incentives and use a tax rate without exemptions that is fair to everyone. This should extend to individuals also, and especially things like the mortgage interest deduction that is the deduction most skewed towards the wealthy.

[Stuart G]

9. If 5.1 Billion is profit from U.S. operations, then 3.2 Billion Refund will add more than..

50 percent more to the profit from U.S operations..that is indeed crazy..
.Making it a
profit of 8.3 Billion from U.S. operations..

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[truedelphi]

33. But when Obama helps get GE that massive loan to underwrite

New nuclear reactors here in the USA, that tax refund ill be dwarfed by the amount of the new monies.

Critics are saying that Obama will see to it that GE shares a dollar pie that could be as much as 58 billion bucks, for new nuke power plants.

[blindpig]

10. It is the return on their investment in government.

They don't throw all of that money around for no reason, it is part of the 'business model'.

That's how capitalism works.

[CanonRay]

11. Sadly, this is nothing unusual

during the Eisenhower years, corporations paid about 21% of all Federal income taxes. Now it's something like 7%. Guess who makes up the difference. Look in the mirror for a clue. We're getting fucked without getting kissed.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

12. Not bad for someone who doesn't even pay taxes!

[Stuart G]

13. Thanks for posting this... Everyone needs to see it....nt

[TBF]

14. Occasionally I check the propoganda papers to see what is going on

CNN, USAToday, NYTimes, and I was surprised to find this. Usually I only get really good information from the financial pages (WSJ, Reuters - that's how you find out what the capitalists are really up to)....

In fact this morning's WSJ front page is telling (we need to keep the pressure up, they notice when folks are in the streets) -



A Nation of Dropouts Shakes Europe
Lisbon's struggle to reduce deficits and spur growth is made harder by a school system that leaves much of the work force poorly equipped for an increasingly technological world.

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

[realFedUp]

15. Wonder if anyone on MSNBC will cover this NYTimes story today?

Waking up to more rain and wondering if each drop contains a radioactive atom and
reading that the planet will be Fuk'd in a bigger way sooner than later.

Waking up to read that I'll pay more in taxes than GE this year. Boycotts anyone?

Waking up to wonder how much more we're doing in Libya and what happened to covert actions anyway?

Waking up to yet more news of Republicans in Congress saying and doing stupid things.

Waking up wondering if we have a President with a sense of fairness and will to do the right things.

[City Lights]

16. Corporate welfare at its finest!

x(!

[Bluebear]

32. +

[rasputin1952]

17. Corporate Welfare...been around for a long time...

GE is not the only corporation to receive tons of cash from Uncle Sam either.

[Volaris]

18. we need a Tax code for this country that fits on 3 index cards...

one for people who are paid for their work, a second for Business Owners who make LESS than a million a year, and a third for million-plus Corporations. And guess what? If you fall into the third category, heres how it works...
Step 1--IRS looks at your profits, and figures out how much you owe.
Step 2--IRS sends you a bill for the amount owed. You have 365 days to put the check into the hands of the attending IRS agent.
Step 3--On day 366, the IRS walks into your headquarters, seizes every-fucking-thing you own, and runs your for-profit corporation as a for-profit Govt. Entity until such time as the earned profit equals the amount of the original bill, plus 10% for being an ignorant ass.

(This will happen ONCE, to a GE or an Exxon, and then it will NEVER happen again, because as soon as it does, the stock price will drop through the floor. And that cant be allowed to happen. Period.)

Tax brackets will be progressive in nature for all three cards, and if your yearly income is less than 20000$, you don't owe.
The National Debt will be gone in 10-15 years.
Suck on that, Baggers.
Peace,
=)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

23. Flat taxer eh?

You also forgot that quarter payments are required today and needed.

[bullwinkle428]

19. The Repukes are pushing a big corporate tax credit plan in Iowa -

when Democrats spoke out to criticize it, the Puke response essentially said that the credits would only kick in if the business venture failed.

IN OTHER WORDS, the profits will be PRIVATIZED, and the losses will be SOCIALIZED.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. As I sit here trying to think of a way to

pay back Federal and state almost $3,000 while on unemployment. Paying money I can't afford to a government that's going to use it for implements of death. It sucks to be a peasant.

[truebrit71]

21. So the NYT thought they were issuing a hit-piece on the Prez, and accidentally let the truth..

..get out about corporate welfare..??

"taxed enough already"

Really?

[TBF]

24. Who knows what the motivation is with the Times -

this doesn't have anything to do with Obama personally. As others have noted in the thread this has been going on for awhile, the only "news" is that the numbers are staggering and we usually don't get to see the info. with such clarity. Would their refund be higher under Repubs? Certainly possible. But for me it all goes back to capitalism - it is the system that rewards the greed/bad behavior.

[truebrit71]

25. Agreed. I think it shows two things though, one is a deeply flawed tax-code, amd the other is Obama.

..getting all cozy with Big Biznass...makes me very concerned for 2012 and beyond (assuming he wins of course)...

[ProgressiveProfessor]

22. This is the classic result when taxes are used for social engineering by well meant people

This is not news. It has been going on for some time. Some of these are well meant people trying to do good things, but the long term result is bad.

Taxes need to be used for raising revenue only and should be done against straight profits, nothing more.

[Chris_Texas]

27. WooHOOO!!!! Good times right?

[spanone]

28. ain't that america

[TBF]

29. But we don't even get the little pink houses anymore ...

they've all been foreclosed.


Here are the complete lyrics ...

Artist: Mellencamp John
Song: Pink Houses
Album: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits

There's a black man with a black cat
Livin' in a black neighborhood
He's got an interstate
Runnin' through his front yard
You know he thinks that he's got it so good
And there's a woman in the kitchen
Cleanin' up the evenin' slop
And he looks at her and says, hey darlin'
I can remember when you could stop a clock

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, yeah
For you and me

Well, there's a young man in a t-shirt
Listenin' to a rockin' rollin' station
He's got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, Lord this must be my destination
'Cause they told me when I was younger
Said boy, you're gonna be president
But just like everything else
Those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh, little baby
For you and me



Well, there's people and more people
What do they know, know, know
Go to work in some high rise
And vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico
Ooh, yeah
And there's winners and there's losers
But they ain't no big deal
'Cause the simple man, baby
Pays for thrills
The bills the pills that kill

Oh, but ain't that America
For you and me
Ain't that America
Something to see, baby
Ain't that America
Home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses
For you and me
Oooh
Ooooh, yeah...

[TheKentuckian]

30. This kind of thing makes me a mushroom cloud laying motherfucker.

It goes double for these specific greedheads that trickle down cut my position by demanding and additional 1.3 million in positive flow from a subsidiary so another person and I were sacrificed to the profit gods to come that much closer since the figure was impossible to achieve on the revenue side due to fuel prices and competitive pricing not having enough wiggle room to raise revenue.

A kid buying a candy bar pays literally billions of times the taxes these fucks pay all year while using our infrastructure on a scale too large to wrap one's head around and creating environmental devastation to match.

Who pays? We do and in more than just taxes.

[Skidmore]

31. Many big corporations don't pay taxes and they

still whine about being overtaxed.

[Quantess]

34. But, taxing them would be "punishing success".