Many Firms Avoided Taxes in Boom (60% pay no federal tax)

CNNmoney ^ | April 6, 2004

[gd124]

WASHINGTON - More than 60% of U.S. corporations didn't pay any federal taxes for 1996 through 2000, years when the economy boomed and corporate profits soared, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported, citing the investigative arm of Congress.

The disclosures from the General Accounting Office are certain to fuel the debate over corporate tax payments in the presidential campaign. Corporate tax receipts have shrunk markedly as a share of overall federal revenue in recent years, and were particularly depressed when the economy soured. By 2003, they had fallen to just 7.4% of overall federal receipts, the lowest rate since 1983, and the second-lowest rate since 1934, federal budget officials say.

[Robert A Cook PE]

His chart DIDN'T (deliberately) show the losses and lower profits of Clinton's recession - that Bush has been fighting though for 3 years!

The stock market has been stagnant (no change! Negative changes!)since April 1999!

Doesn't that mean corporate profits have been stagnant since then also?

Sure, Dean doesn't want you to know that. He WANTS you to think that corporations are cheating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Why do you think the demo's are promoting him on the network news?

[dennisw]

Sorry but you are actually addressing the article while I'm speaking in generalities beyond that recent time frame. I'm simply stating that corporations shouldered a larger percentage of the federal tax burden 50 years ago.

[Hank Rearden]

And yet Big Stupid Government still managed to spend craploads of money. Imagine that.

Strangling the taxflow, in any way possible, is the only way to rein in the parasites. Good for corporations to not pay taxes; that means more money in the hands of real people, not parasites.

[zencycler]

Since owners of corporations didn't want to pay the corporate tax on their profits, and then by taxed again when they took the money out of the corporation, many profitable corporations (especially if their not publicly traded) will pay out the profits in salaries before the end of the year. So taxes were paid by the owners of the corporations receiving these salaries, who smartly avoided the double taxation of corporate profits by getting the money out of the corporation before year end.