[mplawssix]

Too much government... Keeps business from paying their taxes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1249465620080812

(Reuters) - Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.

During that time corporate sales in the United States totaled $2.5 trillion, according to Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who requested the GAO study.

The report did not name any companies. The GAO said corporations escaped paying federal income taxes for a variety of reasons including operating losses, tax credits and an ability to use transactions within the company to shift income to low tax countries.

[XangadsX]

The conservative argument is that if the wealthy end up paying Clinton-era taxes, hiring will dry up. But over the past three years, they've been enjoying the lowest tax rates in modern history and aren't hiring, while companies are reporting record profits. Meanwhile, in the Clinton era, hiring was going gangbusters.

The argument is a sham.

[mudozvonf]

Really what brain dead logic did you use to claim that "Study: most corporations pay no U.S. income taxes." when the article states that nowhere?

about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005......about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said. For anybody with more than rudimentary brain activity this indicates that at minimum 58 percent of US corporations paid income tax for at least 7 out of 8 years of this study.

Get you facts straight.

If you actually read the article you would discover that most US corporations do pay income tax.

Why did you feel the need to post this lie?

[weluvjessicaalba]

I take it from the original headline (go check the link). I'll stand by Reuters wording. I'll stand by their facts, thank you.

I think it's an important story and not a lie: During the time of a president that agrees with the current "small government is good government" rhetoric, the amount of corperations that skipped out on their bill grew. Chalk it up as another "we'll let the people regulate themeselves" failure.

[gvataler]

OK so the Headline Writer didn't read (comprehend) the article either, that is your basis for making all sorts of ridiculous statements. Because some corporation didn't have a profit one year out of seven and didn't pay taxes for that single year, you and the idiot headline writer at Reuters claim that means the Corporation doesn't pay taxes. Please.

[KongoSan]

The NY Times covered this in 2008, based on data from the GAO.

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/bu...3tax.html?_r=2

Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005, according to a report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

The study, which is likely to add to a growing debate among politicians and policy experts over the contribution of businesses to Treasury coffers, did not identify the corporations or analyze why they had paid no taxes. It also did not say whether they had been operating properly within the tax code or illegally evading it.

The study covers 1.3 million corporations of all sizes, most of them small, with a collective $2.5 trillion in sales. It includes foreign corporations that do business in the United States.

Among foreign corporations, a slightly higher percentage, 68 percent, did not pay taxes during the period covered — compared with 66 percent for United States corporations. Even with these numbers, corporate tax receipts have risen sharply as a percentage of federal revenue in recent years.

[tobia]

See Davey at least Richard's study can back up a claim by facts contained in the article, wheras in yours the facts in your article don't back up your claim. As to Richard's article it is mostly pointless as it includes very small corporations that skew numbers when trying to make a point about big business.

1>Corporations that fail in the first year obviously don't pay income tax
2>Many Corporations never make a profit before going out of business after several years.
3>Many profitable small Corporations don't pay Corporate tax but the individuals that own them pay taxes on the Corporate profits on their individual income tax forms.

Including all these small corporations significantly dilutes any point you were trying to make about big business.