August 15, 2014
20 richest US Corporations collecting Welfare
August 15, 2014. Whitehouse Station, NJ. (ONN) The list of corporate tax dodgers from the most recent quarter has just been compiled and released. More accurately, it could be described as a list of the biggest corporate welfare recipients. Because none of the following billion-dollar corporations paid a penny in income taxes last quarter, and instead, received billions in welfare from the cash-strapped US taxpayers. Who’s on the list this time around? See below.
Corporate tax evaders
The below list was compiled and released three days ago by USA Today. Not surprisingly, the corporate media outlet goes out of its way to protect its fellow Wall Street icons from too much criticism. The report only discloses which corporations pay “0% or lower”, but never mentions how big each corporation’s welfare check was last quarter. The companies are listed in order of net profits in Q2-2014, not by the amount of taxes they should have paid, but didn’t.
‘There are 20 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500, including drugmaker Merck (MRK), computer storage company Seagate (STX) and automaker General Motors (GM), which reported effective tax rates of 0% or lower in the second calendar quarter despite reporting a profit during the period,’ USA Today wrote, ‘This analysis shows that while US companies and investors constantly grumble about corporate tax rates, there are many companies that pay nowhere near the highest rates. This is the rule, not an exception.’
Rather than come right out and say that Merck received a $145,000,000 welfare check for the last three months, the report uses financial jargon to soften the outrage of regular Americans. USA Today explains of Merck, ‘The company had a negative effective tax rate during the second quarter of 7.5%, meaning it actually got a net tax credit. That’s despite the fact that income before taxes at Merck soared 52% to $1.9 billion during the quarter.’
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Top 20 biggest US Corporations not paying income tax and on Welfare (From USA Today):
Company |
Q2 2014 net profit |
|
|
Merck |
$2,004,000,000 |
|
|
Seagate Tech. |
$320,000,000 |
|
|
Thermo Fisher |
$278,500,000 |
|
|
General Motors |
$278,000,000 |
|
|
Public Storage |
$276,800,000 |
|
|
Iron Mountain |
$271,600,000 |
|
|
Newmont Mining |
$180,000,000 |
|
|
Eaton |
$171,000,000 |
|
|
Avalonbay |
$158,100,000 |
|
|
Kimco Realty |
$89,500,000 |
|
|
Prologis |
$81,200,000 |
|
|
Boston Properties |
$79,100,000 |
|
|
Apartment Investment |
$77,000,000 |
|
|
Plum Creek Timber |
$55,000,000 |
|
|
Citrix Systems |
$53,000,000 |
|
|
Crown Castle |
$53,000,000 |
|
|
Macerich |
$16,100,000 |
|
|
News Corp. |
$13,000,000 |
|
|
Essex Prop. |
$6,300,000 |
|
|
First Solar |
$4,500,000 |
USA Today isn’t the only one compiling lists of corporate tax dodgers. US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) recently released his own list of America’s Top 10 Corporate Tax Avoiders. Rather than just look at the most recent three-month financial period, Sanders’ office compiled corporate tax amounts covering the past five years.
Readers may have noticed that some of the most notorious tax evaders are absent from the above list from USA Today, like General Electric and Boeing. The independent US Senator’s list corrects that one-time omission, revealing who the most chronic recipients of corporate welfare are, quarter after quarter, year after year.
Top 10 Corporate Tax Avoiders over the past 5 years (from US Senator Bernie Sanders):
- General Electric: From 2008 to 2013, while GE made over $33.9 billion in United States profits, it received a total tax refund of more than $2.9 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.
- Boeing: From 2008 to 2013, while Boeing made over $26.4 billion in US profits, it received a total tax refund of $401 million from the IRS.
- Verizon: From 2008 to 2013, while Verizon made over $42.4 billion in US profits, it received a total tax refund of $732 million from the IRS.
- Bank of America: Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS in 2010, even though it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of more than $1.3 trillion.
- Citigroup: Citigroup made more than $4 billion in profits in 2010, but paid no federal income taxes. Citigroup received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and US Treasury.
- Pfizer: Pfizer, one of the largest prescription drug companies in America, not only paid no federal income taxes from 2010 to 2012, it received $2.2 billion in tax refunds from the IRS at the same time it made $43 billion in profits worldwide.
- FedEx: In 2011, Federal Express received a $135 million tax refund from the IRS even though it made more than $2.7 billion in US profits that year.
- Honeywell: From 2009 to 2010, not only did Honeywell pay no federal income taxes, it received a $510 million tax refund from the IRS even though it made a combined profit in the US of almost $3 billion.
- Merck: In 2009, not only did Merck pay no federal income taxes, it received a $55 million tax refund from the IRS, even though it earned more than $5.7 billion in US profits.
- Corning: From 2008 to 2012, not only did Corning pay no federal income taxes, it received a $10 million tax refund from the IRS, even though it earned more than $3.4 billion in US profits during those years.
To view the full reports, visit USA Today or the website of US Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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