Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers 2008-2010

Can't say I'm surprised by any of this. Some corporations appear to simply lie about taxes while others hide behind the guise of legality. The fact remains that even though much of what corporations do to reduce taxes is "legal" it's grossly unfair and immoral. This is the result of money in politics.

Warren Buffets tax return cannot be compared with his secretary except perhaps in that they both filed the 1040. From what I understand, Buffet receives his compensation on a 1099 and pays taxes at the capital gains rate. His secretary pays federal income tax on income reported on a W2. As a W2 filer, the secretary receives the benefit of matching Medicare, medicaid and Social security paid on her behalf by her employer. Buffet may have to pay the employee portion + the employer portion. This is referred to as the "self employment tax" and is assessed on the net income from self employment. The percentage is 15.2%. If Buffet is subject to this his tax rate on net income from self employment would be the 15% cap gains +the 15.2% in self employment tax. That said, cap gains are generally ( I say generally because the tax code is really weird and the IRS sometime disagrees with the taxpayer on what is what) not subject to the self employment tax but it is really irrelevant. Capital gains are not wages. That is the way the code is written. The code is also written that provides for corporate dividends to be paid out of after tax income. This makes the dividends subject to double taxation. Once at the corporate level prior to distribution and again at the taxpayers tax rate. Libs should love that. Anyhow, Buffet is free to pay more if he wishes however he pays according to the Code as written. Ditto corporations. It is not "dodging taxes" to complete a return according to the tax law. The pdf file said corporations are taxed at 35% but it is taxed at 35% of net income after tax expenses. These expenses are not necessarily the same for book. See the M1 reconciliation on page 4 of the 1120 for an explanation of the differences. The tax rate on gross income will necessarily be less than the 35% rate. There is nothing wrong with this as expenses incurred in the production of taxable income are allowed in calculating the tax owed. As an aside this is one reason I believe that W2 income should not be subject to income tax but that is another topic. Democrats had control of both houses and the WH for two years. The opportunity to correct what some see as an inequity was squandered.

Very disgusting! Thank you for posting this

Pepco Holdings, General Electric, PG&E Corp, Boeing, and El Paso all went three years without paying any taxes yet got all the benefits.