Econintersect: The tax system of the U.S. has been called into question by another study, this one reported by the organization Public Campaign. The study, reported by International Business Times, compares the profits, compensation of executives, lobbying expenses, taxes paid and employment created for thirty large corporations, twenty-nine of which paid negative federal income taxes for the three years 2008, 2009 and 2010. Negative income tax payment means the companies actually received, in net, money and/or tax credits over that time period, rather than making tax payments. Click on illustration for larger image.
From International Business Times:
The Public Campaign report expanded on a newly released analysis on corporate tax dodging by the liberal-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, a non-profit research and advocacy group, as well as lobbying expenditure data provided by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Citizens for Tax Justice, the sister organization to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, reports that 68 of the 265 most consistently profitable Fortune 500 companies did not pay a state corporate income tax during at least one year between 2008 and 2010, while 20 of them paid no taxes at all during that period.
“Our report shows these corporations raked in a combined $1.33 trillion in profits in the last three years, and far too many have managed to shelter half or more of their profits from state taxes,” Matthew Gardner, Executive Director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the report’s co-author, said in a statement. “They’re so busy avoiding taxes, it’s no wonder they’re not creating any new jobs.”
The key findings of the Publicampaign.org study report are shown below:
From Publicampaign.org
Thirty Corporations that Paid More for Lobbying than for Taxes (2008-2010)
From Publicampaign.org
Total Compensation to Top Five Executives in 2008 and 2010
From Publicampaign.org
Sources: International Business Times and Publicampaign.org