Taxes have always been a part of all successful civilizations. It is the way the governments get funding. And when somebody doesn't pay their taxes, they are breaking the law. This is called tax evasion and it happens all of the time. People just don't pay taxes for different reasons and more often than not, they get caught and prosecuted. But how often do corporations do this? You would think not that often since they usually have millions of dollars to their names and need to stay operational. It just doesn't make since for them not to pay their taxes. Except for one reason, their taxes often cost millions of dollars every year. So corporations have increasingly been not paying their taxes. That is what GE is doing. Except what GE is doing is somehow actually legal. GE made over 5.3 billion dollars in profit last year and yet they still don't have to pay taxes. In fact, it is actually owed 3.2 billion dollars by the government! This is possible because it has hired a skilled army of tax experts and lobbyists. This is just unbelievable. I don't care how rich you are or how many experts you have under your belt, if you make a one year profit of over 5.3 billion dollars, you should have to pay taxes or do like other billionaires do and donate so much money that you don’t have to pay taxes. GE has reportedly stated that the 3.2 billion dollars that the government owes them will be given right back to the U.S. Treasury department.
Photograph. Gorillarms.com. 27 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <http://gorillarms.com/gramsisgeometry/?cat=7>.
Dear writer,
ReplyDeleteThis just amazes me how corporations can get away form taxes just like that. Corporations go out of there way to not pay the country just because its going to cost them money. These corporations probably pay as much money to the tax experts and lobbyist.
You stated, "GE made over 5.3 billion dollars in profit last year and yet they still don't have to pay taxes." This stood out to me because the fact that they are finding ways to not pay their taxes just angers me. If we have to pay taxes so should they.
Another quote that stood out to me was,"This is possible because it has hired a skilled army of tax experts and lobbyists." This stood out to me because the are paying these tax experts probably as much as it would just to pay their taxes.
I really enjoyed reading this blog. Its crazy to think how much money corporations are getting away with by simply not paying their taxes. I will definitely come back to read your other blogs.
Sincerely
Hummingbird,
Hunter,
ReplyDeleteLet me just say I read this because I saw what you did with the "GE" in GEtting Away with it and thought it was brilliant. That being said, this was a very good post.
I was amazed at how much GE was getting from the government without paying a dime. That was shocking! If I was making billions of dollars and didn't have to pay taxes people wouldn't believe me. It was amazing to me that that was happening.
I totally agree with you that the whole situation is simply unbelievable. what is more unbelievable to me is that they said they'll give the money right back. So generous aren't they? ;)
I really enjoyed this post and look forward to reading more.
Cardinal
Dear Blogger,
ReplyDeleteI wrote a blog about corporations evading taxes, but took a different view on it. Not to say yours is bad though. Your view is rightful: no one likes others who evade taxes.
"Except what GE is doing is somehow actually legal." It confuses me how any form of evading taxes is legal (except staying a full-time student...which is how I do it). And then the point that they are OWED money shocks me! How is this so? It makes me want to look into this deeper. Alas, I'm sure I wouldn't understand any of the legal gobbledygook.
" I don't care how rich you are or how many experts you have under your belt, if you make a one year profit of over 5.3 billion dollars, you should have to pay taxes or do like other billionaires do and donate so much money that you don’t have to pay taxes." Something I learned as I was writing my blog about this, is that profit doesn't always mean the amount of money they get in their pocket. Sometimes, their expenses to run the company is closely bordering their profit, which in return, gives little revenue.
I will always believe that if I was a corporation owner, I would try to evade taxes too. Hell, I do that now and so do nearly every other citizen. We just do it in different ways, such as staying a full time student. I decided to take that route on the W2 and now I don't have to pay taxes! But I do like how you focus on a company who is owed money (still befuddles me)! I like your different stand point on a different topic.
--Blue Jay
Dear Blogger,
ReplyDeleteThis blog is very interesting to me because it amazes me how corporations get away with this kind of stuff. I know that there are big advantages to being a corporation but they go out of there way to not pay taxes. Corporations probably put there money to other uses that don't give us any advantages.
I agree with your statement " I don't care how rich you are or how many experts you have under your belt, if you make a one year profit of over 5.3 billion dollars, you should have to pay taxes or do like other billionaires do and donate so much money that you don’t have to pay taxes." This just really stands out to what this blog is about.
Sincerely,
Collard Dove