georgephillip
Diamond Member
And by tax dodgers.Deficits are caused by excess spending, fool.How much do budget deficits cost, Rich Bitch?B of A was forced to buy up Merrill Lynch and tax cuts don't "cost" anything, doofus.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
And by tax dodgers.Deficits are caused by excess spending, fool.How much do budget deficits cost, Rich Bitch?B of A was forced to buy up Merrill Lynch and tax cuts don't "cost" anything, doofus.
Maybe you should read the whole article before posting?
But many of the companies the report found had paid no tax were likely small businesses that pay other taxes. Generally, many small firms, because they do not have shareholders, are able to shift corporate income to individual income.
Wrong, dickless.
You don't go into debt if you don't spend more than you have on hand.
Maybe you should read the whole article before posting?
But many of the companies the report found had paid no tax were likely small businesses that pay other taxes. Generally, many small firms, because they do not have shareholders, are able to shift corporate income to individual income.
In my opinion there should be no taxes on any of our businesses at all. All income to corporations/business should flow through to individuals and be taxed as individual income for income tax purposes. That in itself would incentivize corporations to invest in capital equipment to grow their businesses.
But the problem is the government wants to control how businesses spend their money, so that they can disallow certain expenditures, thereby creating loopholes which then are called welfare for corporations. That gives politicians power over corporations and a source of money from those corporations or businesses to either belay or promote more loopholes to level the playing field.
Also those loopholes can be used as rhetorical slams to motivate those corps to conform to the the desires of the politicians; as if regulations arent enough.
However, putting all that aside, individuals can be held responsible for any luxury payments, or plush/lucrative benefits that flow through to them.
We who earn income, particularly as self employed persons, know what ought to be called income, and that it really is treated as income on our tax returns. Although, as I recall, Tom Daschle had some trouble understanding that a free limousine ride to work every day was income. In Tom Daschles case an ordinary audit, had he been subjected to one, wouldve revealed that he ignored income as it should be counted for purposes of taxation.
ThinkProgress limits its observation to Bof A's 2009 income tax liability. A year the bank paid top execs between $6million and $30 million in total compensation, AND a year in which BofA would NOT even have existed without the US taxpayer.You Have More Money in Your Wallet Than Bank of America Pays in Federal Taxes:
"But it wasnt teachers, fire fighters, policemen, and college students that caused the economic recession that has devastated government budgets it was Wall Street.
"And as middle class workers are being asked to sacrifice, the rich continue to rig the system, dodging taxes and avoiding paying their fair share.
"In an interview with In These Times, Carl Gibson, the founder of US Uncut, which is organizing some of todays UK-inspired massive demonstrations against tax dodgers, explains that while ordinary Americans are being asked to sacrifice, major corporations continue to use the rigged tax code to avoid paying any federal taxes at all.
"As he says, if you have 'one dollar' in your wallet, youre paying more than the 'combined income tax liability of GE, ExxonMobil, Citibank, and the Bank of America'
ThinkProgress>>
You and ThinkProgress make it sound as if BofA never pays any taxes. Funny thing is that a quick look at the financial statements of said company shows that to be incorrect.
BAC Income Statement | Bank of America Corporation Com Stock - Yahoo! Finance
Bank of America, Wells Fargo might not pay federal taxes for 2009 | McClatchy
"Oh, yeah, this happens all the time," said Robert Willens, an expert on tax accounting who runs a New York firm with the same name. "Especially now, with companies suffering such severe losses."
In 2007 and 2008 BofA paid their share of taxes, nearly $6.5 Billion. In 2009, they had some kind of adjustment that affected their tax situation which allowed them to regain nearly $2 Billion of that. I did not bother to look for what that adjustment was.
Obviously, ThinkProgress wanted its readers to get the picture that large corporations do not pay income taxes. They expected people just to take their word for it. I am certain that for what ever reason BofA took that adjustment it was legal to do so and I highly doubt there was anything illegal in their actions.
I would not hesitate that guess that you and I and everyone else reading this thread, do our best to legally reduce our taxes year by year... yet ThinkProgress seems to want to make BofA and other corporate giants out to be evil based on one year's tax filings that most likely were completely legitimate
Most corporations are small and can legally reduce their tax liability to nothing or almost nothing. The larger ones such as BofA, Wells Fargo, GM, Exxon etc. etc. etc. need extraordinary occurrences to do so and then when they enter those situations they are portrayed as villains.
Immie
"BANK OF AMERICA: In 2009, Bank of America didnt pay a single penny in federal income taxes, exploiting the tax code so as to avoid paying its fair share. 'Oh, yeah, this happens all the time, said Robert Willens, a tax accounting expert interviewed by McClatchy. 'If you go out and try to make money and you dont do it, why should the government pay you for your losses?' asked Bob McIntyre of Citizens for Tax Justice. The same year, the mega-banks top executives received pay 'ranging from $6 million to nearly $30 million.'
Why should the government cover Bank of America's losses?
exploiting the tax code so as to avoid paying its fair share
Difference being that those lawful duties, imposts and excises were collected to pay for specifically enumerated federal duties, not just thrown into a general fund.Why is it that in our early years as a country... Corporate income taxes collected was the majority of taxes our country collected and now you want to eliminate them altogether and put the entire burden on to everyone with HIGHER INCOME TAXES on the individual....?
I'd like to see NO individual income taxes....think that will ever happen?
Sounds like a great reason to end corporate taxes then, since almost nobody's paying them. Why waste the government time and money? Just to provide worthless government bureaucrat jobs of overpaid beltway plebes and union members?Yep, nearly 2/3 of US corporations and 68% of foreign corporation pay no federal income tax.
Enjoying record profits and taxpayer-funded bailouts as the economy slowly recovers from a financial crisis, nearly two-thirds of US corporations don't pay any income taxes, instead opting to abuse tax loopholes and offshore tax havens. According to this study from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, 83 of the top 100 publicly traded corporations that operate in the US exploit corporate tax havens. Since 2009, Americas most profitable companies such as ExxonMobil, General Electric, Bank of America and Citigroup all paid a grand total of $0 in federal income taxes to Uncle Sam. Tax havens alone account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade, money that could be invested in K-12 education, colleges, public health, job creation and hundreds of other worthy public programs.
But this is not good enough for the GOP. They are urging Obama to seek further corporate tax cuts while cutting 60 billion dollars out of education and programs that serve the poorest of the poor.
Majority of corporations avoid federal income taxes - study - Aug. 12, 2008
US Uncut
Disagree, with a qualification.I think it should be a lower, flat tax for all corporations....with no loopholes.
all corporations pay the same flat rate on earnings....
We would probably collect more in corporate taxes that way, and it would be a level playing field for all corporations, global and domestic.
<SNIP>Maybe you should read the whole article before posting?
In my opinion there should be no taxes on any of our businesses at all. All income to corporations/business should flow through to individuals and be taxed as individual income for income tax purposes. That in itself would incentivize corporations to invest in capital equipment to grow their businesses.
QUOTE]
Why is it that in our early years as a country... Corporate income taxes collected was the majority of taxes our country collected and now you want to eliminate them altogether and put the entire burden on to everyone with HIGHER INCOME TAXES on the individual....?
I'd like to see NO individual income taxes....think that will ever happen?
Disagree, with a qualification.I think it should be a lower, flat tax for all corporations....with no loopholes.
all corporations pay the same flat rate on earnings....
We would probably collect more in corporate taxes that way, and it would be a level playing field for all corporations, global and domestic.
All taxes levied should be for a specific enumerated power of the feds to spend. For example, fuel taxes to pay for roads and bridges.
Not as complicated in throwing all the funds into a giant pile and having congressweasels squabble over it. The added problem in that model is that money collected for X could all too easily be diverted to Y.Disagree, with a qualification.I think it should be a lower, flat tax for all corporations....with no loopholes.
all corporations pay the same flat rate on earnings....
We would probably collect more in corporate taxes that way, and it would be a level playing field for all corporations, global and domestic.
All taxes levied should be for a specific enumerated power of the feds to spend. For example, fuel taxes to pay for roads and bridges.
too complicated to do it in that manner, imho...Oddball....
I've no problem with that. Corporate taxes pay for corporate regulation for preventing abusive trade practices, weights and measures, labor protection and consumer protection. Gas tax for public roads and bridges but not mass transit or drunk driving enforcement.Disagree, with a qualification.I think it should be a lower, flat tax for all corporations....with no loopholes.
all corporations pay the same flat rate on earnings....
We would probably collect more in corporate taxes that way, and it would be a level playing field for all corporations, global and domestic.
All taxes levied should be for a specific enumerated power of the feds to spend. For example, fuel taxes to pay for roads and bridges.
right now we have federal cig taxes to pay for the health care of other people's children....
corporations utilize ALL THE BENEFITS that individuals utilize in our communities...cops, firefighters, roads, wall street regulators, the Fed, water, homeland security, national Defense, congress expense and presidential expense, etc etc etc etc etc....
Did you actually go and read the Forbes article they cite? It's not quite the picture your very biased blog painted.
But does it state that Exxon paid no federal taxes because thats the subject at hand.
Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.
Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. Exxon has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas. Likewise, GE has $84 billion in overseas income parked indefinitely outside the U.S.
Though Exxon's financial statement's don't show any net income tax liability owed to Uncle Sam, a company spokesman insists that once its final tax bill is figured, Exxon will owe a "substantial 2009 tax liability." How substantial? "That's not something we're required to disclose, nor do we."
Disagree, with a qualification.I think it should be a lower, flat tax for all corporations....with no loopholes.
all corporations pay the same flat rate on earnings....
We would probably collect more in corporate taxes that way, and it would be a level playing field for all corporations, global and domestic.
All taxes levied should be for a specific enumerated power of the feds to spend. For example, fuel taxes to pay for roads and bridges.
too complicated to do it in that manner, imho...Oddball....
right now we have federal cig taxes to pay for the health care of other people's children....
corporations utilize ALL THE BENEFITS that individuals utilize in our communities...cops, firefighters, roads, wall street regulators, the Fed, water, homeland security, national Defense, congress expense and presidential expense, etc etc etc etc etc....
Corporations employee people who pay taxes. The amount of income, FICA, SS, gasoline, utility, property taxes etc. paid by the employees who are paid by corporations is A Lot Of Money.
Right now, there is no enumerated power for congress to spend on such a program....Check your premise.right now we have federal cig taxes to pay for the health care of other people's children....
Corporations (i.e. people) pay local taxes for things like fire and police services. Everyone who utilizes local services like port authorities, water & sewer and airports pay user fees for those amenities....Those aren't federally enumerated areas of operation, either.corporations utilize ALL THE BENEFITS that individuals utilize in our communities...cops, firefighters, roads, wall street regulators, Port authority, airports, the Fed, water, homeland security, national Defense, congress expense and presidential expense, etc etc etc etc etc....