The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

None Better at Avoiding Taxes than GE

Apr 18, 2011

Last year GE made profits of 14 billion dollars. Not only did GE pay no taxes last year–or the previous year–it stored up tax credits to be used in the future. If its tax lawyers or accountants slip up and show GE owing taxes, the credit will be there for them to use.

GE is hardly alone in benefitting from how the tax code is written. ExxonMobil paid no taxes on profits of 19 billion and the IRS gave them a check for 150 million dollars. Bank of America made 4.4 billion in profits last year, paid no taxes on it, and got about two billion dollars from the IRS–in addition to a bailout worth nearly one trillion dollars. Citigroup made four billion dollars in profits but paid no federal income taxes last year.

So it goes, with a little help from their friends in Congress. Legal thievery! There is no budget deficit. There is an honesty deficit!