2015: #Sanders Statement on #TaxDodging Companies

April 9, 2015

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 9 – "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Budget Committee ranking member, today issued the following statement on new data showing the extent to which some American companies are avoiding taxes:

"'I applaud Citizens for Tax Justice for releasing new data today revealing the unfairness of our tax system and the fact that a number of the biggest and most well-known corporations in America continue to pay little or nothing in taxes.

"'At a time when we have massive #wealth and income #inequality, and when #corporate profits are soaring, it is an outrage that many large, profitable corporations not only paid nothing in federal income taxes last year, but actually received a rebate from the IRS last year.

"'Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of the #elderly, the #children, the sick and the #poor, as the Republicans in Congress have proposed, we need a tax system that demands that large, profitable corporations and the wealthy start paying their fair share in taxes. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the coming months to make certain that happens.'

Top Ten Corporate Tax Dodgers from Citizens for Tax Justice’s Report

1. Not only did media giant #TimeWarner pay nothing in federal income taxes last year, it received a rebate of $26 million from the IRS even though it made $4.3 billion in U.S. profits.

2. #CBS made $1.8 billion in U.S. profits last year, but instead of paying federal income taxes it received a rebate from the IRS of $235 million.

3. #Xerox made $629 million in U.S. profits in 2014, but received a tax rebate of $16 million from the IRS.

4. #Prudential Financial made $3.5 billion in U.S. profits last year, but instead of paying federal income taxes, it received a tax rebate of $106 million from the IRS.

5. The toy maker #Mattel made $268 million in profits last year, but received a tax rebate of $46 million from the IRS.

6. #Priceline.com not only paid nothing in federal income taxes last year, it received a tax rebate of $9 million, even though it made $73 million in profits last year

7. #PacificGasAndElectric not only paid nothing in federal income taxes last year, it received a tax rebate of $84 million from the IRS even though it made $1.8 billion last year.

8. Wireless technology maker #Qualcomm made $3.2 billion in U.S. profits last year, but instead of paying federal income taxes, it received a refund from the I.R.S. of $98 million.

9. #GeneralElectric made over $5.8 billion in profits in the U.S. last year, but paid just 0.9 percent of that amount — less than one percent — in federal income taxes.

10. #Jetblue Airways made $615 million in U.S. profits last year, but paid just 0.4 percent of that amount — less than half of one percent — in federal income taxes.

Source:
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/sanders-statement-on-tax-dodging-companies/

#Oligarchy
#OilAndGasIndustry
#Oiligarchy
#Corporatocracy
#Corporatism

ICYMI - #BernieSanders Targets Top-10 #Corporate Tax Dodgers

By Andrew Emett -
January 30, 2016

"Targeting the top-10 corporate tax dodgers, Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged on Friday to close loopholes that allow these large corporations to exploit offshore tax havens in order to avoid paying U.S. income taxes. Last year, Fortune 500 companies reportedly held over $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to evade paying U.S. taxes.

"'Three major profitable corporations not only pay nothing in federal income taxes, they actually got a rebate from the IRS,' Sanders told a town meeting in a student center at Iowa Wesleyan University.

"The presidential candidate informed his supporters that #GeneralElectric, #Boeing, and #Verizon paid no federal income taxes between 2008 and 2013. During that period, these three companies amassed more than $102 billion in combined profits, yet they received over $4.1 billion in income tax rebates from the IRS.

"In 2012, GE stashed $108 billion in offshore tax havens and would have had to pay $37.8 billion if the loopholes were closed. Receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax refunds from the IRS, Boeing and Verizon regularly outsource their jobs to China and other low-wage countries while hiding their profits in tax havens.

"Although #BankOfAmerica received a bailout of more than $1.3 trillion from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, the bank hid $17.2 billion in offshore tax havens in 2012. Receiving a $2.5 trillion bailout during the financial crisis, #Citigroup stashed $42.6 billion offshore to avoid paying taxes in 2012.

"Faced with over 1,000 lawsuits accusing the company of selling Zoloft while secretly aware it could cause malformed hearts in newborns, #Pfizer operates subsidiaries in 151 tax havens. As the world’s largest drug manufacturer, Pfizer officially holds $74 billion in profits #offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

"Although the CEOs of #Honeywell, #Merck, and #Corning have retirement accounts worth millions of dollars, these heartless tycoons want to raise the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security to 70 while making significant cuts to Social Security. Sanders also mentioned that despite the fact that Federal Express receives $1 billion each year from the U.S. Postal Service, #FedEx was awarded a $135 million tax refund from the IRS in 2011.

"'In America today we are losing $100 billion in revenue every single year because large corporations are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens,' Sanders asserted.

"According to a report last year from U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice, nearly 75% of Fortune 500 companies have tucked away $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid paying U.S. income taxes. In 2014, at least 358 of these massive corporations maintained 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries throughout Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and other havens.

If elected president, Sanders plans to close these tax loopholes in order to create and maintain at least 13 million jobs by rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, water systems, railways, and airports. On Friday, Sanders announced his plan to crack down on corporate tax dodgers by closing loopholes allowing U.S. corporations to avoid paying federal income taxes by setting up a post office box in a tax-haven country, artificially inflating foreign tax credits, and using offshore subsidiaries to evade taxes.

"Sanders vowed to eliminate tax breaks for #BigOil, gas, and coal companies, which would result in saving more than $135 billion over the next decade. He also promised to prevent companies from avoiding taxes by corporate inversions. By acquiring or merging with a smaller foreign business, many U.S. corporations have evaded paying taxes by claiming the new company is foreign, when in reality little to no personnel or operations have moved offshore."

https://www.nationofchange.org/2016/01/30/bernie-sanders-targets-top-10-corporate-tax-dodgers/