It's April 15th -- tax day. The day of reckoning for many Americans, unless you are really rich or a Fortune 500 company. Today Bernie Sanders spoke at a Capitol news conference in front of a photo of the notorious Ugland House. Unless you're a wealthy tax dodger it is unlikely you would have heard of the Ugland House, the Cayman Islands office that is the registered address of more than 18,000 companies. 18,000 companies all avoiding paying taxes to the U.S. government.
Nobody is really doing business there. It's just a postal address to allow the companies to claim that they do business in the Cayman islands which has no corporate income tax. Source: Bernie Sanders
At a time when American corporations are making record profits, many large corporations are paying no federal income taxes. According to a study by Citizens for Tax Justice, 15 American companies, despite earning large profits doing business in the U.S., paid no taxes in 2014.
As a whole, the 15 companies paid no federal income tax on $23 billion in profits in 2014, and they paid almost no federal income tax on $107 billion in profits during the past five years. All but two received federal tax rebates in 2014, and almost all paid exceedingly low rates over five years.
Source: Newsmax
Following are the top 10 tax dodgers from 2014.
1. Media giant Time Warner paid nothing in federal income taxes last year when 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. Pacific Gas and Electric 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 IRS. of $98 million.
9. General Electric made over $5.8 billion in profits in the U.S. last year, but paid just 0.9 percent of that amount — less than 1 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 1 percent — in federal income taxes. source: Bernie Sanders
Below is a list of the top 15 tax dodgers from 2010 through 2014.
Source:
Citizens for Tax Justice
Not only is it is outrageous that these companies did not pay taxes, but all but two of them got refunds as well. What that means is the rest of us are subsidizing their businesses, when they clearly don't need our help. What it means is they are stealing from us. I will close with the words Senator Sanders, a great patriot, champion of the American people.
“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.”