Forum Post: GE pays no taxes!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 10, 2011, 9:18 p.m. EST by Skippy
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Why dont we protest Obama administration, a subsidiary of GE? GE makes huge $ from govt/military contracts given freely by the Obama administration.
Many corporations make more money than they should through government contracts. However, making a blanket statement that this is bad is incorrect. For example: Government contracting leads to quite a bit of innovation, such as velcro, internet technology, computers, cell phones, and gps. (Many of those technologies are also from the military)
However, the tax system that inordinately favors the rich, was not created by the Obama administration (Although he has been slow to advocate a change in the tax code) its been a systemic problem over multiple administrations over numerous presidencies and congresses.
An example of the corporate welfare in our tax code is that corporations get something called a loss carry forward and carry back. Corporations are allowed to take tax deductions for the losses that their companies incur (this is also somewhat applicable to those who have capital losses and for certain kinds of businesses).
These loss deductions are not always immediately useful to the corporation (for example, the loss deduction is greater than the amount of taxes the corporation has to pay). Therefore the tax code allows corporations to add up their loss deductions and carry them forward into future tax years, or carry them backwords, to years where the corporation had more taxes, thereby allowing them to reduce their taxable income in those past years, and then file an amended return for a refund.
Individuals also can use this, but tell me, have you ever heard used this? Likely not, and the reason why is because most individuals can't take advantage of this system.
Assuming that GE is obeying the laws that are on the books, it seems useless to demonize them for taking advantage of government contracting opportunities and legal tax breaks.
OTOH, the president seems to want to hold GE and Jeffrey Immelt up as a beacon of job creation. Jeffrey serves as an adviser to Obama on jobs as head of the Jobs Council. GE recently announced plans to move their Health Care's X-ray division headquarters to China. It seems to me that GE and Obama are part of the problem rather than the solution. It makes me question the value of the jobs advice that the president is receiving.
GE and about a hundred others of the largest corporations in the country
See Google's Double Dutch and Double Irish.
Because only a fraction of this movement has corporate/political cronyism as their main issue.
This movement is really just a smorgasbord of Liberal issues.
Vote against anybody currently in office or has held office before. Heres why. If you work at a business 25yrs and want to steal from business, you know exactly how to do it. If you work there only 1yr, you will get caught right away.
Because only a fraction of this movement has corporate/political cronyism as their main issue.
This movement is really just a smorgasbord of Liberal issues.
Ge use accounting tactics to move profit over seas.
By using your logic we should probably also protest every congressman and senator in the nation for taking GE corporate donations because they also have taken money from them. I'm all for it. When do we being?
Vote out ALL incumbents! No one should be in govt for life. Start with Obama and work our way down. I dont care who we replace him with, cant be worse.
GE paid no taxes in the US in 2010 because they did not make a profit in the US. If there is no profit there it can't be taxed. This post is inflammatory and makes it sound like GE doesn't ever pay taxes, which is not true.
ge is obamas biggest campaign donnor how ironic that they dont pay taxes we need fair tax or flat tax
Obama is on his knees for GE! Hope he dosn't get TMJ.
Did you see GE CEO's Jeff Immelt's interview on 60 Minutes? He said we need to be cheering his company because it's an 'American' company. Even though almost all of their new factories are in Brazil and China rather than here. Oh, he also said tax cuts will help the economy.