War Profiteering:Defense Contractors Pay Little To No Corporate Income Tax While Earning Billions

[RyanPsych]

Last week, Citizens for Tax Justice released a report showing that 30 major corporations have paid no income taxes for the last three years, as they made $160 billion. CTJ looked at 280 companies in the Fortune 500, and found that “while the federal corporate tax code ostensibly requires big corporations to pay a 35 percent corporate income tax rate, on average, the 280 corporations in our study paid only about half that amount.”

In fact, over the last three years, only two industries — retail and health care — paid an effective tax rate of 30 percent or more. And as the Hill noted today, one industry is doing very well when it comes to tax avoidance — defense contractors:

American defense manufacturers pay an average annual tax rate of 17.5 percent, placing them in a class with some of the nation’s least-taxed sectors like information technology, telecommunications, financial services and energy, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy concluded. <...>

Boeing, which also makes commercial aircraft, came in with the lowest tax rate among defense firms at -1.8 percent; SAIC had the highest at 28.7 percent, according to the report.

keep reading at: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/07/362646/defense-industry-tax-no/

[AntiFascist]

1. K&R n/t

[thelordofhell]

2. War profiteering should be illegal

period

[naaman fletcher]

10. So,

Chrysler should not have been allowed to make tanks in ww2?

[thelordofhell]

12. Not for profit

[naaman fletcher]

15. Then why do it?

Why would anyone take their capital and allow it be used for a purpose where they make no money?

[thelordofhell]

17. Oh, I don't know........because your country is at war

I know it's hard to understand what war was really like, but back in the day it was an all-in proposition.

[naaman fletcher]

18. That's silly

They made profit. Contractors have always made profit.

[Bill USA]

14. Don't play dumb. There is a difference in supplying materiale tothe Government at a profit and tax

dodgeing. Being against Corporations being able to avoid paying any taxes doesn't mean you don't think they should make a profit.

[naaman fletcher]

16. I'm not playing dumb.

I am not in any way in favor of tax dodging, I responded to a specific poster, who, if he had his way, would have caused us to lose WW2.

[marmar]

3. The public trough is a gratis candy store for defense contractors.

nt

[blkmusclmachine]

4. Blood for money..we'll be at "war" forever..they'll come for our SS next..

War Is A Racket

[DreamSmoker]

5. No question in my mind

And the Media just keeps on asking why those People are in the Streets and Parks Protesting every day...

[dotymed]

6. "Our" politicians just sealed the records and information

on these profiteers for twenty years. Americans (or anyone) are not allowed to view the reports compiled by our government that show how badly the defense contractors have stolen and they have not fulfilled their bargains with "us,"

I just started thinking about this after TYT segment on police officers not being able to respond to some calls because they do not have the funds for gas. Eventually, at this pace, it is a foregone conclusion that law enforcement will be privatized. They sure need to keep protecting the status quo. What happens when they are unemployed and their Unions are worthless, bought out....if they run the current scenario all the way through, they know that there will not be a choice.

Currently (I live near a major Army base) the returning soldiers are being "let go." The new cat-food committee has decided to take their trillion$ of defense cuts out of their (new civilian) retirements, disability and medical (promised) benefits. I've watched it happen a few times. The soldiers start getting a "less than honorable discharge" based on whatever reasoning "they" want. That means no veterans health care, no college money and no disabilities.

Uncle Sam knows how to fuck hard and you have no recourse to their military decisions.

Nearly last will be the local law enforcement. Private companies can do their job at a fraction of the current cost...lol. Protect that status quo, let us know how that turns out. The "temporary Staffing profit centers can fill LEO jobs real fast for $10.00 an hour maximum and there will be no benefits, you are all "temporary".....,fools.

:rofl: I do hope that even though the entire 99% will be suffering, the irony of what your masters do to you isn't lost on you.

[Scuba]

8. Thanks for reminding us of this. This issue needs a bright spotlight shining on it. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

9. yeah, i'm surprised the sealing of info wasn't given more publicity...

[Charlemagne]

7. My town has many defense contractors

Dayton, home to Wright-Patt and the Air Force Research Lab obviously has a corporate office for just about every defense contractor you can think of. A bunch are located directly across the street from Wright State University. WSU is a school for the common person, middle to low income--the demographic that fights the wars.

I had people in my class who did multiple tours. Several got medals. Several didnt come back.

Now, everyday when these men and women left campus they got to look at the shiny buildings and BMWs of the people who made money off of their blood.

[bhikkhu]

11. Well, I was going to chime in to defend Boeing...

as my dad worked there and many of my friends in the NW have connections or experience there. They are one of the biggest and best employers in the region, but they are listed as one of the worst tax-dodging offenders...and looking into it, they apparently do deserve the label.

The common means is "keeping profits offshore", which you might think of as a carmaker, for instance, could produce the whole car in the US but the alternator in Mexico. The net profit on the finished car might be $1000, but to keep from having to pay US tax on that they could "pay" their Mexican factory $1000 for the alternator, so the profits all end up there. Its all normal accounting tricks which really need to be legislated on.

I think the president has been trying to get something done on this for awhile, but it looks less likely that tax reform will pass than it is that any jobs bills will pass.

[Bill USA]

13. thanks for this post. bookmarked.(I was too late to recommmend)

[bobthedrummer]

19. Kick. CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE!

RECALL SCOTT WALKER!

[Zorro]

20. Looks like most of the pure-play defense companies pay in excess of 20%

Boeing has a huge commercial sector, which I'm sure allows a variety of writeoffs that reduces their overall tax rate.

The headline is deliberately misleading.