GE had 11.3 pct effective tax rate in 2011-group

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8DRECF20120228By Patrick Temple-West and Scott Malone

WASHINGTON | Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:01pm EST

Feb 27 (Reuters) - General Electric Co's effective tax rate for 2011 was about 11 percent, well below the top 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate, according to a report released on Monday by a tax group.

GE, the largest U.S. conglomerate, reported about $1.03 billion in taxes on $9.16 billion in pretax profits last year, according to the Center for Tax Justice report.

"That's their current tax declared to shareholders. And their actual payments to the IRS were almost certainly less," said Bob McIntyre, president of the tax advocacy group.

GE called the report "biased and inaccurate."

"GE's 2011 tax rate in the U.S. was 25 percent. GE's global rate was 29 percent in 2011, up from 7 percent in 2010," said GE spokeswoman Deirdre Latour, in an e-mail responding to the report. She said GE's higher 2011 rate reflected increased GE Capital earnings and taxes on a deal involving NBC-Universal.

Company tax returns are private, so it is unknown exactly how much money GE paid the government in taxes.

The discrepancy between the company's and the think tank's figures could stem, in part, from differing ways to estimate effective tax rates.

The center said GE likely cuts its tax rate by using a legal deduction letting companies defer taxes on foreign profits.

Last year, GE came under fire for its low 2010 tax rate, which it said resulted from the recession's heavy toll on GE Capital. GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt - a top adviser to President Barack Obama on jobs and the economy - has repeatedly said the nation needs to reform its corporate tax code.

Citizens for Tax Justice produced a report in the 1980s that helped lead to Republican President Ronald Reagan's landmark 1986 tax reforms. Since then, the tax code has become riddled with exemptions, deferral and other special breaks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8DRECF20120228

Where's the outrage? Where is the misinformation? Where are the claims of greed?

There aren't any. It's hard to rile up your constituency about GE. "Big Oil" is a much easier target. Did you know each and everyone of us taxpayers is PAYING big oil; yes, yes, it's true, and then they charge us $4 a gallon for gas LMFAO.

Glad your concerned about the fact that MANY corporations are paying a very low corporate tax rate. lmfao. I do understand that your Republican talking points lead you to only talk about GE,
Solyndra and Marxism. What an obviously mindless regurgitator of Fox news.

Buffett: Highe Corporate Taxes a Myth

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett speaks in Omaha, Neb., Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, at an event to raise money for the Girls Inc. charity organization. (AP)
Corporations, like the rich, aren't paying their fair share in taxes, billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday.

Even while enjoying record profits, corporations last year paid just 12.1 percent of those earnings in taxes, their lowest tax rate since 1972, according to the Congressional Budget Office. At least thirty of the country's most profitable companies had a negative tax rate between 2008 and 2010.

Buffett, for one, says it's time to take notice.

"It's a myth that American corporations are paying 35 percent or anything like it," Buffett said, referring to the top marginal corporate tax rate. "Corporate taxes are not strangling American competitiveness."

Buffett's comments come alongside a larger debate over the tax rates of corporations and individuals. President Obama recently announced a corporate tax reform plan that would look to eliminate loopholes while lowering the top marginal tax rate. In addition, Obama's budget proposal includes a provision, named after Buffett, that would require Americans making more than $1 million to pay at least a 30 percent tax rate.

Buffett said that current corporate tax rates are low both by historical standards and compared to other industrialized countries, or "far, far, far below what we’ve seen in the United States."

Many corporations pay a tax rate far below the top marginal rate. Industrial machinery companies, led by General Electric, paid a negative tax rate of minus 13.5 percent of their profits in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, according to a recent analysis. Information technology companies paid taxes at a 2.5 percent rate, utilities companies at a 3.7 percent rate, and financial corporations at a 15.5 percent rate.


Buffett disclosed that his company, Berkshire Hathaway, paid a corporate tax rate of between 15 and 16 percent of its income in 2011, higher than the national average. Though raising the corporate tax rate would cost Berkshire Hathaway more money, Buffett said it was crucial to put aside special interests.

"Once you start cherry-picking, the whole thing disintegrates," he said. "Why not have a code we don't like that at least is sustainable as opposed to one that's unsustainable?" he added.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1304432.html

Comparing "rates" is disengenuine at best. Compare actual dollars. This gets back to the point I made and you missed. Demogoguery.

Go ahead and argue that we taxpayers are subsidizing "Big Oil".

You went for a talking point about GE (otherwise you would mention other companies
and not just GE which you seemed to be fixated on for the past years).I just posted something from one of the best investors (no not mr. schiff. LMFAO) ever.
I dont think of Warren Buffett is a "demagogue".


83 Fans

03:45 PM on 02/28/2012
Eliminate subsidies.
Tax corporations at higher rates if they outsource jobs over-seas and eliminate the benefit to those corporations to outsource.
It's ridiculous that GE, the largest corporation in America, is paying no taxes.
Yet many Americans are dumb enough to buy into the "50% of Americans aren't paying taxes" nonsense that the GOP is spitting out. That 50% has no money!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Havakasha

You went for a talking point about GE. I just posted something from one of the best investors (no not mr. schiff. LMFAO) ever.
I dont think of Warren Buffett as a "demagogue".


83 Fans

03:45 PM on 02/28/2012
Eliminate subsidies.
Tax corporations at higher rates if they outsource jobs over-seas and eliminate the benefit to those corporations to outsource.
It's ridiculous that GE, the largest corporation in America, is paying no taxes.
Yet many Americans are dumb enough to buy into the "50% of Americans aren't paying taxes" nonsense that the GOP is spitting out. That 50% has no money!

---

I would agree, Buffet does not practice demogoguery. For one, he's not a politician - he has no reason to excite anyone.

I would agree that the tax code ought to "benefit" US production and "not benefit" foreign production.

As for the 50%, a fact is a fact now matter how you spin it. http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pa...ome-taxes.html Sorry, you can call it a "republican talking point" all you like, but it is a fact.