Posted on 11/18/2019 8:03:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Get ready for the debate of the century and were not talking about the Democratic primaries. That is, get ready if New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has the cojones to face off against a very angry FedEx CEO Fred Smith. The NYT ran an analysis of FedExs taxes and accused the company of lobbying for the big tax reform of 2017 on the basis of increasing investment in the US economy and then reneging on the promise:
In the 2017 fiscal year, FedEx owed more than $1.5 billion in taxes. The next year, it owed nothing. What changed was the Trump administrations tax cut for which the company had lobbied hard.
The public face of its lobbying effort, which included a tax proposal of its own, was FedExs founder and chief executive, Frederick Smith, who repeatedly took to the airwaves to champion the power of tax cuts. If you make the United States a better place to invest, there is no question in my mind that we would see a renaissance of capital investment, he said on an August 2017 radio show hosted by Larry Kudlow, who is now chairman of the National Economic Council.
Four months later, President Trump signed into law the $1.5 trillion tax cut that became his signature legislative achievement. FedEx reaped big savings, bringing its effective tax rate from 34 percent in fiscal year 2017 to less than zero in fiscal year 2018, meaning that, overall, the government technically owed it money. But it did not increase investment in new equipment and other assets in the fiscal year that followed, as Mr. Smith said businesses like his would.
As for capital investments, the company spent less in the 2018 fiscal year than it had projected in December 2017, before the tax law passed. It spent even less in 2019. Much of its savings have gone to reward shareholders: FedEx spent more than $2 billion on stock buybacks and dividend increases in the 2019 fiscal year, up from $1.6 billion in 2018, and more than double the amount the company spent on buybacks and dividends in fiscal year 2017.
FedEx provided a response to the NYT for the story, arguing that FedEx had made significant investments after the tax cut:
Task the NY Times to provide their 2017 and 2018 tax statement. Lets compare their situation.
Democrats are lying scum.
How do you know when the New York Times is lying?
When they publish—anything!
Fred Smith is one of the last guys the Sulzberger kid wants to mess with.
“But in the first two years, primarily due to rising fuel costs, the company found itself millions of dollars in debt and on the brink of bankruptcy. Even worse, Smith’s vital pitch for funding to the General Dynamics board was rejected.
When FedEx’s funds dwindled to just $5,000, Smith realized he didn’t have enough to fuel the planes. The company had already gone to many extremes, from pilots using their personal credit cards to fuel planes to uncashed paychecks.
So what’s a desperate founder to do? Smith impulsively flew to Las Vegas and played blackjack with the last of the company money.
Amazingly, when he came back the next week, he had turned the remaining $5,000 into $27,000 just enough for the company to stay in operation for another week.
In the book “Changing How the World Does Business: FedEx’s Incredible Journey to Success - The Inside Story,” Roger Frock, a former senior vice president of operations at FedEx, describes the scene when he found out what Smith did. “I said, ‘You mean you took our last $5,000 how could you do that? [Smith] shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘What difference does it make? Without the funds for the fuel companies, we couldn’t have flown anyway.’”
https://www.businessinsider.com/fedex-saved-from-bankruptcy-with-blackjack-winnings-2014-7
The Slimes: always expect the opposite of what they write to be correct.
Fred Smith created the wonder that is FedEx out of his own imagination, streagnth and hard work (see story below) while Sulzberger was raised in a mansion and had everything handed to him on a silver platter. One man built an amazing company - the other ‘man’ inherited a company and tore it down... I’m standing with Fred Smith on this one...and every other one he wants to take on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_W._Smith
Smith Snr. died when Fred Smith, the son, was only 4, and the boy was raised by his mother and uncles.[3]
Smith was crippled by bone disease as a small boy but regained his health by age 10, before becoming an excellent football player and learning to fly at 15.[4]
Smith had a great interest in flying, and became an amateur pilot as a teen. He attended elementary school at Presbyterian Day School and high school at Memphis University School.
In 1962, Smith entered Yale University. While attending Yale, he wrote a paper for an economics class, outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. Folklore suggests that he received a C for this paper, although in a later interview he told a reporter, “I don’t know what grade, probably made my usual C,”
Distorted Factually Incorrect Tax Story.
Media still doing what it does best.
Hot Air has put up a paywall recently so I don’t access it much now. Most articles are truncated for non-members.
Lower taxes for Fedex and most everyone else and raise taxes for the NY Times and the rest of the corrupt media. A Win Win.
The New York Times lies. What else is new?
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