Have you paid your taxes?

[mckitterick]

Today is tax day, a fine time to see how the big guys (don't) pay their taxes:



If you ever wondered who our politicians work for, this list pretty much sums it up.

Chris

Comments

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

I've seen this list making the rounds in a number of places today...something about it, though, is scratching at the back of my skull that I find somewhat troubling.

This list includes companies that "received tax refunds". I get that the really large numbers for these refunds seem egregious right? But, does the statement that a company received a tax refund mean that the same company did not pay taxes?

I know I'm getting a refund this year, but I also hit my highest level of tax liability so far (i.e. paying more taxes than I have ever paid as I reached a higher bracket). Does my refund, or anybody else's refunds make them evil? Nope, it means they overpaid through payroll deduction.

How do corporations pay taxes in? Do corporations pay quarterly estimated returns and then at "tax time" do a final corporate return and possibly receive refunds of overpayments just like individuals do?

If so, Mr. Sanders is muddying the waters of public opinion by making corporations which received refunds appear to have not paid their tax burden (I'm talking about Item 4 here). It's disingenuous. There's enough corporate ugliness out there to not have to inflate it by that sort of muckraking.


D.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Excellent point, D. I thought the same thing, myself. At the very minimum, we know that those companies getting tax breaks for sending jobs overseas should NOT be getting those breaks, and places like Exxon Mobil didn't pay at all.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely for the closure of corporate loopholes, and the eradication of certain forms of tax breaks, when those tax breaks are not actually bringing the intended results.

But I've never felt that demonizing "corporations" for simply being corporations, or doing what the law, in fact allows them, is a particularly productive stance.

A tremendous number of small businesses are incorporated (or are some other form of business organization), but there are those who would tar and feather all such organizations.

But then I get crazy listening to people demonize TIF financing who don't actually understand at all how it actually works.


D.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

And I looked it up. Corporations that will owe taxes estimate their tax burden and file quarterly returns. Hence, not a surprise that some would be entitled to refunds.


D.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

I still need to see it laid out thus: Taxable income, tax paid, refund made. Not how much they got back, so much as how much they left there. If it is zero paid and lots back, that is also a set of numbers to show -- but showing profit plus what they got back without at least mentioning numbers in between is not helpful.

Me, I'd like to see foreign tax paid at least cut in half as a deduction, or eliminated entirely. That would make our tax base a lot more solid. The top bracket has foreign tax deductions larger than its entire AGI, which is part of our problem with wealthy tax non-payers. I don't see why we make taxes paid in other countries a deduction in ours -- that is insane. Taxes paid here should be a cost of doing business with the largest mass of idiot consumers in the world. Check the statistics on IRS.gov.