Runaway corporate taxation

[widebody911]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1249465620080812

Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.

[tabs]

And Obama thinks he can raise taxes on them....to tax the wealthy....U Wide are going to be the target of those new Federal Taxes that are going to fund all those wonderfull programs that are going to be in the pipeline with President Obama.

The wealthy are going to go offshore..and pay no taxes...

[tabs]

American have it soooo terrible with the big corporations running everything...If you didn't have those big corporations and have the pollution and global warming....you still would be using Kerosene Lamps and a PC computer to communicate on the Internet....geez Al Gore couldn't have invented them if it were not for the Economy of Scale, R&D, Capital reqirements that large corps big to the table...U might even be lucky to own a pair of shoes....I can hear it now.."Ohhhh TABBY you are being so dramatic." It was Henry Ford that introduced the assembly line that made automobiles affordable to the average working man, before that people rarely traveled more than 25 miles away from home in their lives...with the assembly line comes a cost to the environment....and some of these dummmies think ohhh anothe Billion people added to the middle class....yep even more polution for being middle class means one consumes MORE MORE AND MORE....

If ya wana play then ya gotta pay....

[Jim Richards]

It's the scotch talking, eh?

[Pazuzu]

What an awful article. What defines a "foreign corporations" and a "U.S. companies"? They use "corporation" and "company" interchangeably, and make no mention of the limits put on the study. Does that mean there is one G.E in the mix for every 425 privately owned, small businesses? Was there a revenue minimum put into place?
First they make everyone askeered by saying "57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005" (while not defining the parameters at all) THEN they toss out "about 25 percent of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes in 2005" which is at least some level of factual statement, but they don't tell you were the cutoff was...they could have meant that they included the 4 largest companies, and one didn't pay taxes.

Is this the best that Reuters can do?

[tc-sacto]

So what. How many of those companies actually made a profit to pay taxes on?
More to the point I don't think corporations should pay any taxes. The income taxed to the individuals should be enough. (doulbe taxation).

[einreb]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

It's the scotch talking, eh?

I've got Tabs and Britney in my deadpool.

The article is misleading and sensationalist.

[legion]

Corporations shouldn't be taxed at all, only individuals.

Currently, the government gets to tax the corporation, tax the employees, and tax the investors. Then, when the employees go to spend their money (which has been taxed), they get taxed again. And I suppose that is fair.

Nope, the easiest way to end the double, triple, and quadruple taxation on income is to cut out one of the layers of taxation.

[Tidybuoy]

Interesting. One thing the article does not address is "why" these company's did not pay tax. I suspect it was because the company's had deductions (ie., depreciation of revenue generating assets, payroll expenses, medical coverage for employees, rent on buildings that are used for employing employees who get paid the payroll expenses listed above, supplies that were purchased from suppliers, advertising that was purchased from newspapers, tv stations, etc... who employ advertisers, maintenance costs that are paid to people who fix things), You can also deduct the cost of merchandise that is sold...merchandise that is made by somebody......etc, etc, etc.

It's perfectly legal to not pay taxes....as long as you are spending your revenues on things that employ people or invest in things that "will" employ people. It's really not a bad thing. A company that invests in stuff and is growing may not pay taxes but the feds get thier money thru personal income tax by all the people what were paid for stuff that the company bought.

If these company's (the ones that supposedly did not pay taxes one year out of eight - per the article) paid the taxes...what happens with the tax revenue? The same things that a company that is producing things does. It's called stimulating the economy.

It's really amazing how easy it is to spin a story when you have an agenda. Even this thread is titled "runaway corporate taxation" by somebody that clearly is not well educated in economics 101.

[lendaddy]

When a company loses money they don't pay income tax. Stay with me on this......no income......no income tax.

They do however still pay payroll portions, unemployment, and the ass kicker of them all....personal and real property tax.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

When a company loses money they don't pay income tax. Stay with me on this......no income......no income tax.

Depends on where you are...

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Depends on where you are...

If you lose money and they tax you anyway that would be a revenue tax (we have it here, it's great).

[Porsche_monkey]

Originally Posted by legion

Corporations shouldn't be taxed at all, only individuals.

Bingo. Allow corporations to thrive and grow, tax the money pulled out.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

If you lose money and they tax you anyway that would be a revenue tax (we have it here, it's great).

They are/have instituted it here...taxation based on your business income, not your gross. Small businesses that are working on the edge of $0 gross (or even worse, at a loss) are getting jacked because of it.

But yes, you're right, it's not technically income tax. Your post sounded like you were saying that a company with a $0 or less on the books at the end of the year would be financially immune from taxation.

[RWebb]

Individuals shouldn't be taxed at all -- only corporations.

This allows _real people_ and their families to thrive and grow - you only tax the money in large businesses.

See? Either way has benefits.

IIRC, the study covered only "regular" corporations - not private bsuinesses, not S class coprs, not LLPS, etc.

that's the problem with journalism - or what passes for it these days.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I
IIRC, the study covered only "regular" corporations - not private bsuinesses, not S class coprs, not LLPS, etc.
that's the problem with journalism - or what passes for it these days.

That could be inferred...but it needs to be explicit. there was not enough information given for me, the reader, to find the facts myself, and they DID use the terms "corporation" and "company" interchangeably.

This is Reuters of course, the same group that had pictures of the poor lady in the Middle East crying over two different homes being destroyed in two different countries

[Chuck Moreland]

Originally Posted by widebody911

[url]The Government Accountability Office said ..... about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.[/i]

98-2005 is eight years.

That says about 1/2 of US companies had 1 year in 8 in which they operated at a loss. Frankly, I'm surprised that the number is that low.

Especially considering 98-05 spans the dot-com boom and bust. Most dot-com cos never made any profit at all. The following bust negatively impacted the broader economy in 2000/2001.

And the statistic appears to include start up companies, they rarely turn profit in the first 3 years of operation.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by legion

Corporations shouldn't be taxed at all, only individuals.

Do you feel that corporations should be allowed to participate in our political system? Examples would include donating to election campaigns, hiring lobbyists, etc.

Corporations are interesting legal creatures. They are legal entities separate from their owners. In this sense they are 'citizens' at least for purposes of commerical activity. They do not get to vote, but they do get to participate in the formation of public policy and politics. And they have a TON of money to use when they want to influence legislation. Finally, they have a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders to make profits regardless of the impacts of those decisions. That is.....they are legally required to be unethical, where lack of ethics will result in profits. They are not allowed to break the law, but they are also not allowed to pass up profit opportunities for ethical or moral or public-safety/public-health reasons.

So.....do they get to reap all the benefits and take none of the responsibility?

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Chuck Moreland

98-2005 is eight years.

That says about 1/2 of US companies had 1 year in 8 in which they operated at a loss. Frankly, I'm surprised that the number is that low.

Especially considering 98-05 spans the dot-com boom and bust. Most dot-com cos never made any profit at all. The following bust negatively impacted the broader economy in 2000/2001.

And the statistic appears to include start up companies, they rarely turn profit in the first 3 years of operation.

It says "at least" one year. I would have thought your reading comprehension would be higher than this. We don't know whether these companies ever payed any taxes during this period.

[Superman]

I wonder if political contributions and expenses for lobbying are included as operating expenses. That would be a way of avoiding taxes. Buy a few senators and a few representatives, and sidestep taxes at the same time.