GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits
Taxes Friday, November 18th, 2011
BY JOHN MCCORMACK, The Weekly Standard
General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn’t pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.
The fact that GE paid no taxes in 2010 was widely reported earlier this year, but the size of its tax return first came to light when House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) made the case for corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting. “GE was able to utilize all of these various loopholes, all of these various deductions–it’s legal,” Ryan said. Nine billion dollars of GE’s profits came overseas, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. tax law. GE wasn’t taxed on $5 billion in U.S. profits because it utilized numerous deductions and tax credits, including tax breaks for investments in low-income housing, green energy, research and development, as well as depreciation of property.
“I asked the GE tax officer, ‘How long was your tax form?’” Ryan said. “He said, ‘Well, we file electronically, we don’t measure in pages.’” Ryan asked for an estimate, which came back at a stunning 57,000 pages. When Ryan relayed the story at the townhall meeting in Janesville, there were audible gasps from the crowd.
Ken Kies, a tax lawyer who represents GE, confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD the tax return would have been 57,000 pages had it been filed on paper. The size of GE’s tax return has more than doubled in the last five years.
Ryan used the data point to underscore the irrationality of the corporate income tax code. He also contrasted GE with UPS to make the point that the corporate income tax code doesn’t make sense. “UPS paid a 34 percent effective tax rate,” while its biggest foreign competitor, DHL, paid a 24 percent tax rate, Ryan said.
To read more, visit: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ge-filed-57000-page-tax-return-paid-no-taxes-14-billion-profits_609137.html
Short URL: https://reteaparty.com/?p=4525
I assume this is news because the writer feels paying no tax on $14 billion is a problem – yes?
Or is it, instead, a complaint (as Ryan notes) that the tax system is broken and needs an overhaul?
Here’s an overhaul for you: Eliminate ALL productivity taxes (corporate AND private). While there is a personal income tax, a corporate tax is a double tax…and the notion that productivity should be taxed at any point is, to me, not just silly, but destructive.
If that seems too radical, start with a 10% flat corporate tax and 0% personal income tax….and no national sales tax or similar “Fair Tax” or “9-9-9″ bull-shit.
[...] RE Tea Party » Taxes [...]
I’m sorry but that is just plain wrong. Flat Tax – FLAT TAX !!!!
how much did GE pay to have their tax return prepared? that should tell us something about our tax system