WIN: 63 CEOs call for billions in tax breaks

US corporate taxes are in the bottom third of the industrial nations

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By Doug Cunningham

Sixty-three CEO’s representing the largest U.S. corporations have launched a campaign calling for $134 billion in tax breaks. 

According to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies the corporations want the U.S. to switch to a “territorial” corporate tax system, similar to a Mitt Romney proposal. 

The report says if that happens thee corporations could reap tax breaks of up to $134 billion. Under the guise of “fixing the debt” these corporations want to exempt foreign earnings from U.S. taxation. 

The single biggest beneficiary if this corporate tax system were adopted would be General Electric, which has overseas earnings of roughly $102 billion. 

Actual U.S. corporate tax revenue has plunged despite a 60-year high in corporate profits.

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Only solution that is possible to balance the budget

The rich have gotten a sweetheart deal from the government since the Reagan era, with reduced federal income tax rates, low capital gains taxes and a low corporate tax rate that has many exemptions.

In addition, GW Bush suspended the Estate Tax.

This has damaged the middle calls.

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The increasingly regressive US tax system

First of all, most US taxes are regressive. Municipal property tax and sales tax are flat and have limited impact on the affluent.

The cap on Social Security tax has been around since the inception of the programs and this tax has primarily been on the back of the middle class while private pensions have been disappearing from the workplace, Only 20 per cent of working Americans retire with a pension.

Then we have the special tax deals for the affluent. Most wealthy people don't work for a living and therefore don't pay income tax. These people benefit from capital gains an deferred interest that has a 15 per cent flat tax on it, far blow the average income tax rate that most Americans pay.

Think corporate taxes are too high? This is another GOP exaggeration.

Many corporation have off shored in the Netherlands or Ireland and pay a low corporate tax rate to those countries. The effective corporate tax rate in the US is 17.5 per cent, again well below what the average income tax that Americans pay.

The US has a regressive ta system courtesy of the GOP and supply side economics.
Besides being inherently unfair, the present tax system has been a big factor in the US deficit.

When the GOP holds the presidency, the deficit is rarely discussed. It only becomes an issue when a Democrat is in the White House.

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WH Blog: The Buffet Rule Asks the Wealthiest to Pay Their Fair Share

Megan Slack

April 10, 2012
02:00 PM EDT

Nearly one-quarter of all millionaires (about 55,000 individuals) pay a lower tax rate than millions of middle-class families. Warren Buffett has famously said that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, and he agrees that isn’t fair. To reform our tax system, which is currently tilted in favor of very high-income households, President Obama has proposed a basic principle of tax fairness called the Buffett Rule.

And, using the average tax rate to tell the story actually, like in the chart above, masks the fact that some high-income Americans pay extraordinarily low tax rates. 

A full 22,000 households that made more than $1 million in 2009 paid less than 15 percent of their income in income taxes. And the top 400 richest Americans—all making over $110 million a year—paid an average of 18 percent of their income in income taxes in 2008, but one in three of them paid less than 15 percent.

Americans need to wake up when they hear Republicans talking about flat taxes or fair taxes. Both are regressive taxes that shift the tax burden to the middle class. Herman Cain's 9,9,9 plan is a perfect example of this. So was Mike Huckabee's 'fair tax' in the 2008 election. 

Most US taxes are regressive such as sales tax and municipal property tax. The FICA tax for Social Security is also regressive because of the FICA social security tax cap of $110,100 that lets the affluent off of the hook.

Republicans have flattened the tax tables since the Reagan area in a way that has greatly benefited the most affluent Americans. While the middle class will et some lip service on tax cuts, the wealthy will save tens of thousands. 

As the Citzens for Tax Justice state: 

. . . (T)he Ryan budget would replace the existing personal income tax with a personal income tax that has just two rates, 10 percent and 25 percent, repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and offset the costs by closing unspecified tax loopholes and tax expenditures. The table on the first page illustrates that taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeding $1 million would enjoy a tax cut of at least $187,000 under this plan no matter how it is implemented.

Because of capital gains taxes and other special taxes for venture capitalists such as deferred interest,  most affluent Americans are only taxed as 15 per cent. The affluent benefit from a regressive US tax system.

The Republicans have not only flattened the income tax system which includes capital gains and deferred interest and other special tax break, they have also established numerous exemptions for c-coprorations and also curtailed the estate tax which had been suspened until recently.

The net effect is that the US has a huge deficit that was worsened by the Iraq War and another unfunded bush initiative, Medicare Part D.

The US has had very unequal wealth distribution for many years. We now have the fifth most uenequal income distribution as well. 

This can cause social instability that can be defined using the GINI coefficient. The US GINI  is presently  46.8  in 2009 and is getting worse. 

In general  if the GINI is more than .50, the country has an income distribution problem which could lead lead to social instability and crime.

Of course the GOP solution for crime is a concealed carry permit! 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AGini_coefficient 

http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2012/03/ryan_budget_plan_would_cut_income_taxes_for_millionaires_by_at_least_187000_annually_and_facilitate.php

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Bloomberg: Ireland Vows to Collect Outstanding Household Taxes

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ireland's new 100-euro ($133) household charge was paid by just over half of the 1.6 million eligible homes yesterday. Some opposition political groups and labor unions have advocated the non-payment of the charge, as a rallying point against austerity. Owen Thomas and David Tweed report on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown."

The Irish have the lowest corporate tax in the EU so guess who gets to pay the tax shortfalls that Irish corporations create? 


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WIN: Corportions not paying state income tax, 12/08/2011

By Doug Cunningham

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By Doug Cunningham

A new report called “Corporate Tax Dodging In The Fifty States, 2008-2010” shows many major, highly profitable corporations paid no state income taxes in at least one of the last three years. This massive corporate tax-dodging shifts the tax burden more to working families and contributes to the budget crisis hitting many state governments. Matthew Gardner, Executive Director of the Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy is co-author of the report.

[Matthew Gardner]: “Sixty-eight of these companies, companies like Dupont, Intel, Wells Fargo and GE have figured out ways not only to pay zero in state taxes, but to get tax refunds despite being hugely profitable over the last three years.”

Gardner says common-sense reforms by the states could make sure corporations pay their fair shares, but many state governments continue to give these corporations tax breaks.By Doug Cunningham

A new report called “Corporate Tax Dodging In The Fifty States, 2008-2010” shows many major, highly profitable corporations paid no state income taxes in at least one of the last three years.

This massive corporate tax-dodging shifts the tax burden more to working families and contributes to the budget crisis hitting many state governments. Matthew Gardner, Executive Director of the Institute On Taxation and Economic Policy is co-author of the report. Gardner said:

Sixty-eight of these companies, companies like Dupont, Intel, Wells Fargo and GE have figured out ways not only to pay zero in state taxes, but to get tax refunds despite being hugely profitable over the last three years.

Gardner says common-sense reforms by the states could make sure corporations pay their fair shares, but many state governments continue to give these corporations tax breaks.

Florida is a good example. First, the smaller S-corporations aren't subject to state income tax, only the larger Fortune 500 C-corporations. What was one of Gov. Rick Scott's first acts? Cut corporate income tax which shifts the tax burden to the middle class. 

Many state and local government have become tax whore havens. They offer tax cuts to new businesses  in exchange for new jobs.  

But the governments  do not follow through to monitor the corporations to assure they have met their job requirements for the tax breaks. 

Many FL governments have also taken steps to keep these new job agreements with corporations SECRET! 

graphic source: About.com

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