That's not exactly a reasoned, fact filled rebuttal.
What makes Boortz an "idiot, not worth responding to"? Though he didn't cite his sources, he provided plenty of verifiable facts. Do you argue with them, or the conclusions he draws from them or both?
erhaps you don't like the bombastic tone of his remarks and his fierce characterizations of Obama. However, these techniques should all be very familiar to you. Indeed they are your own.
The only problem is that the real average tax rate on corporations is now 6 percents and GE not only paid zero on 15 billions dollars of profit in 2010 but got 3 billions from the treasury beside.
Fair?
The top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income and yet they pay 40% of all income taxes collected.
The top 5% of taxpayers (those earning at least $159,610) pay more in taxes than the remaining 95% of taxpayers combined.
More than half of Americans, 51%, don’t even pay income taxes!
The top 5% of taxpayers (those earning at least 159,610) Paid (sic) less in (fica)taxes than the bottom 20% even though they earn much more.
It wasn't a lie at all. The taxes and income involved were correctly labelled. Your false claim that it was a lie was the only deception here.
The FICA tax is a mandated annuity, not a source of general revenue.
Is itself positively deceptive in that both groups are paying for benefits received.
The taxes and income involved were correctly labelled.
The top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income and yet they pay 40% of all income taxes collected.
In 2008, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 38.0 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 20.0 percent of adjusted gross income, compared to 2007 when those figures were 40.4 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively.
The top 5% of taxpayers (those earning at least $159,610) pay more in taxes than the remaining 95% of taxpayers combined.
More than half of Americans, 51%, don’t even pay income taxes!
In 2010, 45 percent of tax returns will either remit no federal income tax or receive a net tax refund.
The actual rate has nothing to do with what I posted. Just because large corporations have great accountants/lawyers is immaterial to my post.
And I never brought up anything about the amount of improvement, just that it would be improved in my opinion. That's why 6% or 30% doesn't matter in response to my post. I gave no indication of any qualitative amount of improvement.
Does it not make more sense to free up the money of businesses to build/grow and instead collect the taxes from investors, assuming the same amount of taxes were collected, of course?
We, the undersigned business owners, executives and investors, call on the President and Congress to end tax dodging and support a level playing field for business by enacting strong legislation to stop tax haven abuses. Offshore tax havens reward tax evaders, rob public coffers of needed revenue and offload taxes to responsible businesses and households.
Everyone needs to pay their fair share to keep America moving forward. Tax dodging deprives our nation of revenue needed to maintain and modernize the infrastructure and services underpinning a strong economy. An estimated $100 billion or more in tax revenue is lost every year to tax havens. Our economic progress is undermined when companies are rewarded for financial manipulation rather than innovation and productive investment.
Responsible businesses and banks are hurt when other firms use tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.
There is no justification for tax avoidance and evasion through tax havens. Offshore tax havens provide cover for banks, hedge funds and corporations to shift taxable income from the United States for the sole purpose of escaping taxation. Tax haven secrecy allows wealthy Americans to hide assets, helps companies manipulate their finances, and fosters the casino economy.
Ending tax haven abuse shows we are serious about taxation that is transparent, fair and responsible. It is an important step in ending the irresponsible speculation and financial manipulation putting our whole economy at risk. We call on Congress and the President to strengthen our economy by enacting tough legislation to stop tax haven abuses.
One reason for America's fiscal squeeze is that the U.S. tax system has become too porous, with billions lost to tax evasion and to a plethora of tax loopholes. Offshore tax havens are a big part of this problem and are used heavily by corporations and the affluent to shield money from the IRS.
So it was good to see Democrats on Capitol Hill this week introduce the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, legislation which they say will curb abuses of international tax laws that cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion a year.
As I read it, though, this bill would be unlikely to stop the most costly part of the problem -- which is the way that corporations use foreign subsidiaries to greatly minimize their tax bill. (See a summary of the bill by the Center for Tax Justice.)
As written, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act is a basket of apples and oranges. It takes aim at both tax evasion, whereby Americans hide cash in undisclosed offshore accounts, and tax avoidance, whereby corporations exploit loopholes around offshore havens to reduce their tax bill.
The tax evasion piece of the legislation is all well and good. It would penalize financial institutions that don't cooperate with U.S. tax enforcement, make it easier for the IRS to find out about offshore accounts, and ban the issuing of credit cards from banks in certain tax havens, which is a main way that Americans access money hidden abroad.
hese steps would bolster a far-reaching crackdown on offshore tax havens that has been underway for a few years now, with numerous Americans caught and punished (albeit lightly) by the IRS for evading taxes with offshore accounts. But it's unlikely that ramping up this crackdown will save tens of billions of dollars. Billions, maybe.
The big cost of offshore tax havens comes when corporations set up foreign subsidiaries in low-tax or no-tax countries and then transfer important assets to those subsidiaries. So, for example, if company X transfers a valuable patent to its subsidiary in the Caymen Islands and then pays hefty royalties to that subsidiary for using the patent, presto: profits are suddenly piling up in a country with no taxes.
Corporations can also fudge where their profits are being made with complex "income shifting" accounting strategies. With the help of smart accountants and lawyers, profits that are actually made in the U.S. -- where the top corporate income tax rate is 35 percent -- can appear to be made by subsidiaries in other countries.
The clever use of offshore subsidiaries helps explain why many profitable corporations so often have very low tax bills. In 2008, Goldman Sachs, had 29 subsidiaries located in offshore tax havens and reported profits of over $2 billion. It paid federal taxes of just $14 million on those profits. General Electric -- a master at tax avoidance -- has subsidiaries all over the world, and this is one reason it paid virtually no taxes in 2010.
So what would the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act do about this particular problem? Not much, I'm afraid.
The bill would stop companies based in the U.S. from claiming they are foreign companies and, to be sure, that is a good thing. There have been some outrageous examples of American companies re-incorporating themselves in tax havens -- even as their headquarters remain in the U.S. Most famously, Stanley Works -- a tool maker with a 159-year history in Connecticut -- re-incorporated in Bermuda in 2002, even though none of its top execs actually moved to Bermuda.
But these kinds of shenanigans are not the main problem. It's the foreign subsidiaries as explained above.
The bill would require much more disclosure by companies of their foreign operations, and this would make it harder to disguise U.S. profits as offshore profits. Again, this a good thing and could bring in billions by reducing tax avoidance.
But that's about it. While the bill would bring in some other revenue by closing a loophole around credit default swap payments, it misses the big money. It wouldn't do anything to stop how corporations use foreign subsidiaries in tax havens to hold key assets that then allow those subsidiaries to become leading profit centers for the company -- all beyond the reach of Uncle Sam.
The Democrats behind this legislation -- who include Carl Levin in the Senate and Lloyd Doggett in the House -- are clearly trying to do the right thing. They are also dreaming big here, since this legislation is unlikely to go anywhere right now.
Clearly, though, this crew needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with a tougher approach. If the goal is to close loopholes and save truly big bucks, let's see a plan that would actually do that.
KEY POINTS:
You Pay More Money In Taxes Than Many Well-Known U.S. Corporations. The 10 bucks in your pocket is more than many of the largest U.S. corporations paid in U.S. taxes including: Bank of America, Verizon, General Electric, Boeing, and Citigroup. Other companies like Federal Express and ExxonMobil pay effective rates of less than 10 percent (even though the official corporate tax rate is 35%). These same companies pay their CEOs and top managers millions in salary and perks – and spend millions lobbying the U.S. Congress for preferential tax and regulatory treatment.
Corporate Tax Dodging Takes Money Out of the Pockets of the Middle Class and Hurts America. Corporations use tax havens and loopholes to siphon money and jobs offshore – while not paying their fair share of taxes for infrastructure, public services and the investments that have historically built the US middle class, including K-12 and higher education.
We Are Not Broke: Governments Are Cutting Budgets and Jobs When They Should Be Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes. Irresponsible politicians have drained state and federal budgets by giving corporations huge tax breaks and allowing them to dodge taxes through overseas tax havens. Our elected leaders should plug up these corporate tax loopholes before they cry "broke."
Making Corporate Tax Dodgers Pay Their Fair Share Would Make Cuts to State Budgets Unnecessary. States are facing the worst budget gaps in living memory. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the combined budget gaps in all U.S. states is over $102 billion.1 Meanwhile, closing overseas tax havens would generate an estimated $100 billion! You do the math.
Corporate Tax Dodgers Hurt Domestic U.S. Businesses. Tax havens punish responsible businesses that have to compete unfairly against tax dodgers. A domestic U.S. business that pays its taxes is at an unfair disadvantage with multi-corporations that game the system and shift profits to low or no tax havens. A new coalition has formed called "Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse."
Tax Havens Cost Us All. When you combine tax avoidance by both wealthy individuals and multinational corporations, tax havens cost the Treasury as much as $123 billion a year. Responsible businesses and individual taxpayers like us pick up the slack to pay for the services all of us use.
Corporate Tax Avoidance Has Dramatically Increased Over The Last Several Decades. In the 1950s, almost a third of federal revenue came from corporate income taxes. By 2009, it had declined to 10 percent.2 Corporations are paying less and middle class individuals are paying more.
The Largest Global Corporations are among the Worst Culprits. Tax avoidance is a global problem. Corporations exploit gaps and loopholes in domestic and international tax law that allow them to shift profits from country to country, often to or via tax havens, with the intention of reducing their taxes. Lack of transparency and reporting allows this tax avoidance to occur on a huge scale.
Secrecy is a Problem! Tax havens are not only ways to reduce or eliminate taxes, but also a means for criminals and lawless corporations to circumvent the law, using secrecy as their primary tool. This is why the Tax Justice Network prefers to refer to tax havens as "secrecy jurisdictions."
EXAMPLES OF CORPORATE TAX DODGERS
BANK OF AMERICA: In 2009 and 2010, Bank of America didn't pay a single penny in federal income taxes, exploiting the tax code so as to avoid paying its fair share. They argue this is because they lost money. But we really don't know, thanks to over 115 subsidiaries in tax secrecy jurisdictions. There are 59 BoA subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands, 15 in Luxembourg, and 14 in Ireland. Bank of America received $336 billion in government bailout funds (second only to Citigroup).3 When it comes to paying their top managers and influencing elections and government, they don't hold back. Between 2007 and 2010, during the economic meltdown triggered in part by their reckless actions, Bank of America's PAC and employees donated $5.184 million to federal campaigns. During these same years, they spent $17.3 million lobbying the federal government.4 Bank of America paid their CEO Thomas Montag $29 million in 2009.
BOEING CORPORATION: Over the three year period from 2008 to 2010 had total pre-tax profits of $9.7 billion but did not pay a dime of its profits in federal taxes. Boeing Corporation has 38 subsidiaries in foreign tax haven jurisdictions.5 At the end of February 2011, the U.S. government granted Boeing a contract worth $35 billion to build airplanes. 6
VERIZON: Take out your Verizon phone bill. See the part of the bill where you paid taxes? $2 dollars? Guess what? You paid more taxes on your phone bill than Verizon paid in 2009 and 2010 in federal U.S. corporate taxes. They reported $24.2 billion in pre-tax U.S. income, and yet claimed a federal corporate refund of $1.3 billion. The company has $1.2 billion in unrepatriated foreign assets, money it is keeping offshore in order not to take tax reserves against it.
FEDERAL EXPRESS: Federal Express reported over $1.9 billion in U.S. profits, but paid only $1 million in federal corporate income taxes over the last 2 years, for an effective tax rate of .05 percent. While FedEx only paid $1 million in taxes over 2 years, they spent nearly $42 million lobbying Congress. They have 21 subsidiaries in tax havens including 3 in the Cayman Islands and 3 in Ireland.
GENERAL ELECTRIC: In General Electric, they consider their Accounting Department to be a "profit center," working to avoid taxes. Between 2006 and 2010, General Electric told their shareholders they had $26.3 billion in profits, but paid no U.S. taxes. In fact, they got $4.2 billion in rebates, so their effective U.S. tax rate was negative 15.8 percent.7 In 2009, General Electric — the world's largest corporation — filed more than 7,000 tax returns and still paid nothing to U.S. government. In 2010, they reported $5.07 billion in domestic pre-tax profits and paid just $4 million in taxes. Their unpatriated taxes grew to $94 billon. They managed to do this by a tax code that essentially subsidizes companies for losing profits and allows them to set up tax havens overseas. GE has subsidiaries in tax havens including 3 each in Bermuda and Singapore and 1 in Luxembourg. In 2009, GE CEO Jeffery Immelt earned total compensation of $9.89 million. GE spent $39 million lobbying the federal government in 2010 alone, and $83 million since 2008.
OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM: In 2009, this oil giant paid their CEO Ray Irani $31.4 million, about twice what they paid in federal corporate income taxes, which was $16 million!
CITIGROUP: Citigroup has paid no taxes for the last four years. They were the largest recipient of federal bank bailout funds, receiving $476 billion. Citigroup has a whopping 427 subsidiaries in tax havens including 90 in Cayman Islands, 91 in Luxemburg, 35 in British Virgin Islands, and 40 in Hong Kong. Citigroup has continued to pay its staff lavishly. "John Havens, the head of Citigroup's investment bank, will probably be the bank's highest paid executive for the second year in a row, with a compensation package worth $9.5 million."
EXXON-MOBIL: The oil giant uses offshore subsidiaries and other loopholes to avoid paying taxes in the United States. They have 32 subsidiaries in tax haven countries including 18 in the Bahamas and 3 in the Cayman Islands. Although Exxon-Mobil paid $15 billion in taxes to other governments in 2009, not a penny of those taxes went to the U.S. Treasury. So maybe those other countries should defend ExxonMobil's assets around the world, instead of the men and women of the U.S. armed forces. Next time the pirates take over your oil tanker, call the Bahamas! ExxonMobil did come up with $68 million to lobby Congress between 2008 and 2010.
WELLS FARGO: Despite being the fourth largest bank in the country, Wells Fargo was able to escape paying federal taxes by writing all of its losses off after its acquisition of Wachovia. Yet in 2009 the chief executive of Wells Fargo also saw his compensation "more than double" as he earned "a salary of $5.6 million paid in cash and stock and stock awards of more than $13 million."
NEWS CORPORATION:The media giant that owns Fox News avoids taxes through its 152 subsidiaries in tax havens, including 62 in British Virgin Islands, 33 in Cayman Islands, 21 in Hong Kong, and 15 in Mauritius.
PFIZER: Without intellectual property and patent protections, Pfizer's patents for products like Viagra would be easily replicated and produced for a fraction of the cost. They depend on the US court system to defend their property. Yet Pfizer shelters a lot of this intellectual property offshore, with 80 subsidiaries in tax havens, including 28 in Ireland, 16 in Luxembourg, 10 on the island of Jersey.
