From Reuters:
Dorgan in a statement called the report "a shocking indictment of the current tax system." Levin said it made clear that "too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair share in the United States."
The study showed about 28 percent of large foreign corporations, those with more than $250 million in assets, doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes in 2005 despite $372 billion in gross receipts, the senators said. About 25 percent of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes in 2005 despite $1.1 trillion in gross sales that year, they said.
From CQ Politics:
Most corporations, including the vast majority of foreign companies doing business in the United States, pay no income taxes, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.
During the eight-year period covered by the report, 72 percent of foreign-owned corporations went at least one year without owing taxes, and the same was true for 55 percent of domestic corporations.
It appears as though, rather than help the workingest people in the country, Bachmann would like to help corporations pay fewer than the few taxes they already pay.
Cross Posted on Dump Bachmann
3 responses to "Bachmann Corporate Tax Meme: DEBUNKED..."
Hi - Warren Buffet in his 2004 letters to shareholders commented on this a few years ago. Its a shame that so many U.S. corporations avoid their fair share of taxes, but its also not unexpected.
The U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world (35%), which creates a large incentive to avoid taxes by shifting income to other countries (like Ireland which has a 12% corporate tax rate, among the lowest in the world).
A dramatic simplification of the federal corporate tax code along with a reduction in the rate would reduce the incentive to avoid taxes. This is different from reducing the taxes on individuals since its much harder for a person to move their income to another country then it is for a corporation.
That said, Rep. Bachmann doesn't have a clue what she is talking about when it comes to corporate taxes and is just parroting the party line (which most of the republicans have no clue about since very few of them have ever been involved in the finance of a major corporation).
Regards,
Frank J.
How do you not realize that one reason corporations don't pay taxes here is precisely BECAUSE the tax rate is so high. Increasing it will only worsen the problem.
The phenomenon has been observed also with income tax rates: when countries increase income tax rates, more of the economy moves underground (bartered or illegal transactions instead) and tax revenues fall. Lower tax rates reduce the burden of being a legal company, inducing more people to run legitimate businesses and pay taxes.
Both of these comments are well stated, apparently much better than Bachmann can articulate it.
As a strong conservative, it's easy to see the effects of high taxation. Why do you think there are 63,000 pages in the tax code? Clearly, it favors the rich and corporations. While the rich pay the majority of all the taxes, they still get away with claiming much lower incomes than they really make and in that way, don't pay their fair share.
Lowering the corp tax rates, simplifying the tax code and eliminating the majority of loopholes will create an environment of better compliance, more incentives to do business in the US, create more jobs, stimulate the economy and of course increase overall revenues for our hungry IRS.
When will the liberals realize that true conservatives do not like cheats any more than they do. True conservatives believe in free market opportunity, working hard, paying your FAIR share of taxes, not circumvention, corporate favoritism, loopholes and making the middle class pay all the taxes.
Liberals also don't seem to understand that raising taxes (and high taxes compared to whatever else you are comparing to) is what causes these things to happen. The high tax crowd causes the very problem they are attempting the solve, which is on par with the majoriy of Liberal philosophy; and their just too blind to figure it out.