President Barack Obama has been unabashed in his close association with General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, including naming him to head the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Obama has continued to shower such honors and attention on Immelt despite the fact that GE has avoided paying ANY taxes. Indeed, GE has demanded a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. Now, GE has posted a 77% increase in profits while paying less taxes than any of its factory workers.
Investors are doing well even if the taxpayers are getting killed. The company increased its quarterly dividend for the third time in the past year.
Immelt took the opportunity to declare “GE has emerged from the recession a stronger, more competitive company.” Of course, GE takes a different tact in avoiding any taxes.
GE is able to avoid paying any taxes by using its army of lobbyists to get tax breaks from Congress, which has proven again to be in the pocket of corporate interests. This is a bipartisan sellout as both parties have caved to such demands. The company also has used “creative” accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore.
Yet, Obama still embraces Immelt as a model CEO and repeatedly invites him to the White House to advise him and other companies on how to economic and business issues. Imagine the response of liberal members and commentators if George Bush relied so heavily on such a corporate figure. There were many such controversies and the press and commentators were outraged. Yet, once again, Obama is not viewed as a corporate shill or tool where Bush was denounced in the very same terms.
It should be a national scandal that a CEO who avoids any taxes should be given such a high-ranking position. Indeed, there should be hearings on how a company can get away with windfall profits while paying less in taxes than a waitress at a truck stop in I-95.
Source: WSJ
Jonathan Turley
I almost forgot. Amen to Buddha’s comments.
Jim,
Whose God are you referring to? Now you want to bring religion into the tax code? What if I am not Christian? Why should the country pay a Tax based on your religion? Besides, if your God’s plan was working, why would the Catholic Church need to close so many churches and schools?
Inherent in your argument is that you can’t excel at what you do without making a lot of money. That dog just won’t hunt. As an Educator, you can be a great teacher, but you won’t make a lot of money.
Jim,
Too bad for you taxation on the “God plan” would be prohibited by the 1st Amendment. Tax equity isn’t dependent upon divine intervention. Proportionality across the equal sign is a function of mathematics. But therein lies the problem with our tax code: lobbyists have leaned on enough law makers over the years to make it a cesspool of tax dodges for the superwealthy and corporations. Our tax code is an overcomplicated boondoggle and it was made that way purposefully by a mechanism that amounts to simple graft.
There should be no such thing as a tax attorney. I repeat: there should be no such thing as a tax attorney. Put those lawyers to work doing something beneficial to society instead.
The tax code should be simple, straight forward and about 20 pages long at maximum. If it were a fair and equitable system? 20 pages is probably generous. Four pages would probably do the job. An individual scaled chart with a page of allowable exemptions (like home mortgage interest) and a corporate scaled chart with a page of allowable exemptions (like credits for creating jobs in America – not credits for outsourcing as exist now). The exemptions and credits should be very limited and in plain, unavoidable language. And the penalty for corporations not filing or improperly filing should be that their CEO and Board are held in civil contempt until payment is made.
But God doesn’t have a thing to do with it.
Also, raff is correct about the nature of Social Security. It’s no more a handout than Federally underwritten flood insurance is a hand out. You and the employers pay into the plan for later benefits just like those who participate in the flood insurance program pay in for later benefit in case of disaster.
rafflaw
Your comments were wrong. I believe all should pay the same. As an educator, I don’t give one set of students more points that another. I don’t take points away from those who achieve and give to those who don’t. All are equal!
rafflaw
God’s economic plan calls for both rich and poor to pay 10%. Who are we in America to think that any other plan that doesn’t show equality will work?
rafflaw
I agree that deduction loopholes need to be closed but that in no way should allow 40% of Americans to pay nothing.
It isnot the Bush tax credits, it is the fact that the congress didn’t also cut spending which they need to do!
rafflaw
Wrong! If you add up what one pays into social security, they get a lot more back so therefore it is a handout. Fairness is when all pay the same rate. 40$ of Americans pay nothing and in fact get money in the form of the unearned income credit.
Jim,
Social Security is an insurance plan. It is not a government handout. Individuals and employers pay into it and benefits are paid out. It has no effect on the debt level. Jim, under your definition, all people who are in the middle class are not excelling and therefore should pay taxes at a higher rate than millionaires. So trust babies who are excelling at nothing will pay taxes at a lower rate than a member of the military. I guess if you are Paul Ryan, that does make sense.
Jim, how about corporate entitlements? How about bloated defense contracts to suppliers who keep defrauding the taxpayers? How about removing corporate welfare first and then we can talk about individual entitlements. How about removing the Bush Tax Cut giveaways to the rich? How many billions did that add to the debt??? Remember, SS is not an entitlement.
The Liberals are upset at GE. What about the 40% of Americans who pay no tax. They instead get an unearned income credit and therefore are actually being compensated by the government. They are all hypocrites if they complain.
Currently, this America’s portfolio:
Earns 22,000 a month
spends 42,000 a month
total debt $140,000
Now would you loan money with that portfolio? We better stop our spending and begin paying down the debt or all of our children will be doomed.
GE receives energy tax credits for its wind turbines. It is one of the ways they avoid taxes. Ge is one of the world’s largest wind turbine suppliers.
People who get a handout from the government will always say no to it being stopped. Getting rid of Social Security as we know it is not a bad idea. Getting the government out of the medical business isn’t a bad idea either.
Paul Ryan’s plan may not be perfect but it does address the debt problem. Did you know if you spend $186,000/second, it will take 2.4 years to pay off our national debt. If we look at where most of that debt has accumulated we will find it in entitlements.
We need to start making everyone pay taxes. GE paid a lot of Social security and medicare taxes. They avoid income because of deductions. Close the deduction hole and Obama should stop lying about shared sacrifice. When someone works hard and excels that doesn’t mean he should sacrifice to help those who don’t.
A little hard to hear,so heres the transcript of meeting.
VIDEO: Paul Ryan Booed At Town Hall For Defending Tax Breaks For The Wealthy
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/20/paul-ryan-wealthy-tax-breaks/
eniobob,
that is a great video. I saw the article on that schooling that Ryan received from one of his constituents. Priceless.
some of the time but not all of the time:
FFLEO,
For you my friend the store is always open.
Well, I am a very conservative retired fellow and I had to pay taxes this year because my tax rate increased—last year I got a refund and this year I owned that same amount plus more—it flip-flopped and then some. My annuity was the same and my savings interest income was even markedly less because of the miniscule interest rates—of course, low interest rates are supposed to help the economy but not ‘my’ economy.
I had an outrageously shameless, humongous annual dividend check of $55.20 (no, the decimal is in the right place) on which I paid taxes and G.E. caint even pay that much. Next tax season, I must report the $48.06 I received for jury duty (hot dang, I juss discovered a po’boy windfall because I git to round down that 0.20 and 0.06 to the lower dollar figure–while G.E. gits to round down every million to 0.00/zero). I guess being conservative and paying taxes on every little bit of income just makes us average folk naïve, but honest, serfs.
I wonder if Buddha is still a’runnin’ that midnight special on pitchforks n’ tar torches (I am a little squeamish about procurin’ a razor sharp guillotine—at least, to date).
The Big Corps n’ Big Gubbermint are Skippin’ Rope while they bleed our little economic corpses dry…