30 Major U.S. Corporations Paid More to Lobby Congress Than Income Taxes

[SMS]

True enough Dave...but if we didn't have a punitive tax system in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue. You can't argue that there is NOT a trend/attempt/attitude swirling around that involves vilifying those who are successful. I perceive this story, while it's not stated directly stated, as being part of that trend.

Said trend diverts from the real problem of out of control spending and .gov mandates. We don't have a tax problem, we have a spending problem. I could care less if a company tries to pay less taxes.

 

[finishnailer]

Some folks don't seem to understand that the more a corporation is taxed, the more it will charge for its goods or services. We all look for every loophole we can find when we do our taxes. SMS is right on the money.

 

[MLRyan]

If GE paid -$4737(in millions) in taxes, doesn't that mean that they received +$4737(million)?

 

[SMS]

If GE paid -$4737(in millions) in taxes, doesn't that mean that they received +$4737(million)?

Perhaps in terms of the Corporate Tax, yes. But now go add up how much GE, it's employees, shareholders, sub-contractors, and suppliers paid in terms of payroll taxes, individual income taxes, tax on dividends, real estate taxes, fees, licenses, and taxes on sales/purchasing of goods and services all at the federal, state, and local level.

In short, tally up the impact a company like GE has on the economy in terms of goods/services produced and the full spectrum of taxation....not just the red herring of "Corporate Taxes".

Bet it all adds up to more taxes payed into the system and more productivity than all the OWS 'tards total income combined and way more than the $4.7 million received in subsidies.

 

[LightningCrash]

Your honor, he didn't pay his child support, but if you add up all the good things he did in the world, it adds up to a net positive.

 

[SMS]

No comparison whatsoever....they paid what they paid in accordance with our screwed up tax laws. Trying to vilify them for working the system doesn't fix our nation's fiscal problems. People who insist on staying hung up on corporate/class envy don't grasp the enormity of the problem.

You could confiscate 100% of the earnings of all 30 of these companies and you won't erase the $15T national debt or scratch the surface of the $62T bubble of our unfunded liabilities.

 

[ez bake]

Perhaps in terms of the Corporate Tax, yes. But now go add up how much GE, it's employees, shareholders, sub-contractors, and suppliers paid in terms of payroll taxes, individual income taxes, tax on dividends, real estate taxes, fees, licenses, and taxes on sales/purchasing of goods and services all at the federal, state, and local level.

In short, tally up the impact a company like GE has on the economy in terms of goods/services produced and the full spectrum of taxation....not just the red herring of "Corporate Taxes".

Bet it all adds up to more taxes payed into the system and more productivity than all the OWS 'tards total income combined and way more than the $4.7 million received in subsidies.

Corporations should not have more rights than citizens. If a corporation makes more money overall than they pay out in expenses (and if they didn't, they wouldn't be around for very long *said tongue-in-cheek with regards to bail-outs breaking that rule*), then they made a profit.

That money needs to be taxed somehow. If it is not, then those successful corporations are not being vilified, they are breaking the rules - which directly screws the citizens who then have to pick up the slack with regards to taxes (lets face it, the government isn't getting cheaper to operate every year).

When Corporations skirt US tax laws, and then hold their hands out for bail-out money (or the massive amount of money given out by the .gov to corporations outside of TARP in the last several years), its salt in the wound. Sorry, but that's earning vilification if I've ever heard it. When the .gov is only paying out bail-out money to companies backed by Goldman Sachs, its downright stealing (and a direct result of that lobbying).

There are several corporations that are moving operations overseas in order to get out of paying US employees salaries and benefits (and to skirt US tax laws by keeping income outside of the US).

Combine that with their lobbying efforts that earn them special loopholes not only in tax laws, but in corrupting the free market that capitalism relies on (there exists today lots of one-sided regulation that requires smaller private companies to spend so much in money/resources that they can't compete fairly against giant public corporations).

 

[SMS]

It is taxed...multiple times on multiple levels. Some just want to tax the income again at another layer before it gets paid out in salary etc....

The corporate tax is dumb and is a red herring distracting us from the real issues.

Ditch the corportate tax all together or come up with simple, low flat tax that provides zero incentive for loopholes and lobbying then move on to address our real problems.

 

[LightningCrash]

No comparison whatsoever....they paid what they paid in accordance with our screwed up tax laws. Trying to vilify them for working the system doesn't fix our nation's fiscal problems. People who insist on staying hung up on corporate/class envy don't grasp the enormity of the problem.

You could confiscate 100% of the earnings of all 30 of these companies and you won't erase the $15T national debt or scratch the surface of the $62T bubble of our unfunded liabilities.

Perfect comparison, actually! Except the corps can simply throw money at the problem and get laws changed so they don't even have to pay. Nobody here has tried to vilify them for their success. People have a problem with their ability to just buy their way into new laws.

I've used the 100% argument against higher taxation before. You're awfully hung up on defending against assertions that haven't been made.

 

[LightningCrash]

It is taxed...multiple times on multiple levels. Some just want to tax the income again at another layer before it gets paid out in salary etc....

The corporate tax is dumb and is a red herring distracting us from the real issues.

Ditch the corportate tax all together or come up with simple, low flat tax that provides zero incentive for loopholes and lobbying then move on to address our real problems.

Also you can't claim on the one hand that it's a red herring, but then keep chattering endlessly about it. That would mean it's not a red herring at all.

Plenty of other corporations don't get the opportunity to buy their way out of taxes. You insist that the tax system is broken, that changing the system is the solution here... the point of the thread is to bring awareness to a problem affecting us right now. "Here's this issue today, it is significant and harmful." Just because they didn't hold your hand and lay out seven viable solutions doesn't mean they have class envy or something else you decide to make up. Coming up with solutions is the next step in the process.