GE's Tax Return Equivalent of 57,000 Pages; No Tax Paid on $14 B Profit

[InTheLight]

General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs...-paid-no-taxes-14-billion-profits_609137.html

 

[Mexdeaf]

Blame our convoluted tax code, not the corporation. They did the same thing any of us would have done- took advantage of all the deductions that they were entitled to.

 

[Salty]

General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs...-paid-no-taxes-14-billion-profits_609137.html

Your facts are not exactly correct.

They did pay:
Social Security matching
Medicaid matching
Property Tax
Sales tax
Phone tax
Fuel tax
ect, ect, ect,ect,ect

It was INCOME TAX they did not pay


Now granted, they should pay income tax - but evidently they had enough deductions to claim zero net income. And it appearers it was all legal.

If you did your personal income tax and had enough deduction to bring your net income to zero, would you pay income tax?

Salty

PS, a lot of those deductions were for other taxes!!!

 

[targus]

GE - Obma's little pet.

 

[Robert Snow]

If low, or no taxes means corporations will hire more people, GE should be hiring at every plant they operate!

 

[Mexdeaf]

Most corporations are not like the US Government. Corporations don't just hire people to pass out money. They hire people when they need them.

 

[InTheLight]

Your facts are not exactly correct.

They did pay:
Social Security matching
Medicaid matching
Property Tax
Sales tax
Phone tax
Fuel tax
ect, ect, ect,ect,ect

It was INCOME TAX they did not pay

I said they paid no taxes on profits of $14 Billion. I don't think I got anything wrong by saying that.

 

[InTheLight]

If low, or no taxes means corporations will hire more people, GE should be hiring at every plant they operate!

People get hired when there is a demand for more labor within a company. Why should GE hire people just to have them lolly-gag around the workplace? Out of the goodness of their heart? Having a job is not a right.

Ooops. I just saw MexDeaf's post that said almost the same thing....

 

[Robert Snow]

People get hired when there is a demand for more labor within a company. Why should GE hire people just to have them lolly-gag around the workplace? Out of the goodness of their heart? Having a job is not a right.

Ooops. I just saw MexDeaf's post that said almost the same thing....

I never said anything about having a job being a right. The right-wing has said for years that if we lower the corporate taxes it will cause these companies to hire more people. Since GE is not paying any corporate tax, shouldn't they have a lot of jobs to offer?

 

[InTheLight]

I never said anything about having a job being a right. The right-wing has said for years that if we lower the corporate taxes it will cause these companies to hire more people.

I've never heard that. I've heard the right wing say that if corporate taxes were lowered it will level the playing field with foreign corporations. Or it might cause some corporations that moved jobs out of the country to bring them back.

Since GE is not paying any corporate tax, shouldn't they have a lot of jobs to offer?

Maybe to accountants...:laugh:

 

[Ruiz]

I am not against GE paying no taxes: I am against others paying taxes. Now if we can get all companies in America to pay no taxes, that will be progress.

Let's address the link between hiring and income. The team of accountants GE employs to get zero taxes is astronomical. They spend millions in labor costs to ensure they save billions in taxes. As well, the money is funding future projects.

Take, for instance, the $1.5 Billion dollar put towards the expansion of the world’s first integrated renewables combined-cycle plant. This project means jobs and if successful, could have great economical and environmental benefits. In another area of their business, they have just hired 400 people in a software investment expansion, the project will cost well over $1 Billion according to news sources. They have also announced a new research facility in Denver Colorado.

So, people ask if they are using that money to hire more people and the answer is, "yes." They spent millions to save billions and these are some examples of the reinvestment they have announced just in the last couple of weeks.

Again, I want them to pay nothing, and I want every business to pay nothing.