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03 Nov 2011 21:57

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Biz: Study: Many corporations pay low tax rates; some pay none

  • 35% the corporate tax rate set by the U.S. government
  • 18.5% the average “real” tax rate paid by 280 Fortune 500 companies source
  • » And some companies don’t even pay: Two notably large companies that don’t pay any taxes … and in fact owe less than nothing somehow? General Electric and Pepco. (On a side note: DC residents looooooove Pepco, because the power goes out all the time around here.) Both companies defend their businesses practices.

31 Aug 2011 16:37

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Politics: How is the corporate pay/corporate tax balance doing?

  • 25 highly paid CEOs earn more than their company’s income taxes source
  • » The high cost of big loopholes? The angst you may have had or heard the past few years about corporate tax loopholes and decadent executive pay comes home to roost nicely in this study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing Washington think-tank. As is typical in the strange and sometimes muddy world of Washington think-tanks, some have doubted the study (which found that 25 of the 100 highest paid CEOs in America earned more than their company paid in income tax), calling its accounting methods into question — in this case, corporate spokespeople for Boeing and General Electric.

21 Oct 2010 15:26

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Biz: Based on their accounting, Google has a new mantra: “Don’t Pay Taxes”

  • 35% the current corporate tax rate in the United States
  • 2.4% the amount Google pays, thanks to fancy accounting source
  • » How do they do it? Well, the search giant uses income-shifting methods referred to by lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich,” which sound like endlessly fascinating names for avoiding taxes. It involves a lot of money-shifting between various countries – Ireland, Bermuda, The Netherlands. But the end result saved Google $3.1 billion in taxes in the last three years, which probably helps them afford investing in self-driving cars and stuff.