In a Remarkable Show of Bi Partisanship... GE Pays No Tax on 14 Billion Profit.

[Gators312]

It sounds great to say that the corporations need to pay their fair share, and take it off the backs of the middle class, but the bottom line is the middle class will still have to pay as the Corporations will pass on the cost.

Look at the fuel surcharges that get put on by Fedex, Waste Management, UPS, airlines etc. etc.  when the cost of oil starts to increase.  They institute them a lot faster than when they remove them and everyone ends up paying.

[finehoe]

...the middle class will still have to pay as the Corporations will pass on the cost.

Corporations pass on the costs of everything they do, including fat CEO pay packages, so that is hardly a reason for them not to pay their fair share in taxes.

[buckethead]

Are you saying that consumers pay corporate taxes and CEO slaries/benefits/golden parachutes and all?

Wowzerz. It almost seems like a tax on consumption could eliminate the possibility of clandestine tax benefits for preferred entities. The onus of taxation would remain on the consumer.

The big difference is that it would reward those who live frugally (green, if you will), and invest/save their money.

[mtraininjax]

Wow, amazing how a thread about corportations paying taxes in America can lead to California. 

I find it amazing that this little gem of information was left out of the first post....

Although the top corporate tax rate in the United States is 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, companies have been increasingly using a maze of shelters, tax credits and subsidies to pay far less.

60 Minutes ran a story on this last night, Sorry NY Times...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/25/60minutes/main20046867.shtml

If you think what GE did is horrible, perhaps the left wing JOBS STAY IN AMERICA will pleased to know that American companies have 1.2 TRILLION in wealth staged overseas in plants, jobs, wealth that will never come back as long as the corporate tax rate remains at 35 percent. There are 600 US companies, employing 100,000 people in Ireland alone, thanks to a friendly corp tax rate of 12.5%. Jobs that moved because tax rates are too high here, and yet you want even higher taxes?

[BridgeTroll]

   Wow... you are so right...   Is Charlie Rangel irish?

[BridgeTroll]

  Wow... you are so right...   Is Charlie Rangel irish?

are you Norse?

Are you Namibian?

[mtraininjax]

You guys never get enough of this stuff do you?

Actually, since we are the minority, we get alot of this stuff from ignorant people. 

35% tax rate versus 12.5% tax rate, I know its simple math, but that is exactly what the kids in our school system have a problem with. Perhaps 1.2 Trillion is too high of a number for them???

[mtraininjax]

Well, maybe you should have thought about those high numbes before you cut taxes and then borrowed money to pay for the shortfalls?  I dunno.

Seems like deliberately cutting income knowing that you were going to have to borrow was a bad idea.

Well, Duval County Students fail at reading as well. I guess we'll never have DCPS products reading your posts either. Can't add and can't read.

[Jaxson]

Well, maybe you should have thought about those high numbes before you cut taxes and then borrowed money to pay for the shortfalls?  I dunno.

Seems like deliberately cutting income knowing that you were going to have to borrow was a bad idea.

Well, Duval County Students fail at reading as well. I guess we'll never have DCPS products reading your posts either. Can't add and can't read.

Did you go to Duval County Schools Mtrain?

I love the blanket generalizations of Duval County students like the next guy, but such rhetoric serves to obscure the successes of those who have gone on to make successes of themselves - including a certain tax collector who graduated from Paxon High School...  ; )

[mtraininjax]

including a certain tax collector who graduated from Paxon High School...  ; )

Back when they did things right and we actually turned out a few good people! When Teachers had a noble profession. 

[BridgeTroll]

Back to the topic...

Is the 35% tax rate the issue?  Is it the loopholes?  How do we plug the holes?  Which ones to plug?

[mtraininjax]

Is the 35% tax rate the issue?  Is it the loopholes?  How do we plug the holes?  Which ones to plug?

Don't plug them, as long as the tax rate is 35%, companies will find a way around the law. The Texas congressman said it perfectly. Instead, lower the rate, do as Chambers suggested and drop it to 5% for a one time reduction and get that money, at the very least, back into the U.S., back into the local communities. Would you rather see Irish kids enjoy new playgrounds and community centers on the backs of US Corportations or our local kids?

[BridgeTroll]

Even Reagan simply wanted the loopholes closed...

In the mid-1980s, President Ronald Reagan overhauled the tax system after learning that G.E. â€" a company for which he had once worked as a commercial pitchman â€" was among dozens of corporations that had used accounting gamesmanship to avoid paying any taxes.

“I didn’t realize things had gotten that far out of line,” Mr. Reagan told the Treasury secretary, Donald T. Regan, according to Mr. Regan’s 1988 memoir. The president supported a change that closed loopholes and required G.E. to pay a far higher effective rate, up to 32.5 percent.

[mtraininjax]

Raising the taxes to pay for the debts is the only responsible thing to do, and all of this attempt to avoid actually paying the debts has resulted in a lot of nonsense.

Where do you find the money to balance the debt of 14 trillion dollars? Explain please.

[mtraininjax]

Even Reagan simply wanted the loopholes closed...

Reagan could not win, what makes anyone think that Obama can win? You cannot win this, corportations will find a way out of it, that is why we have lawyers, and joke books on lawyers. do the one-time deal, get the money in and then claim its a WIN-WIN for the taxpayers of America and the American way of life, or whatever the changy people in Washington claim....