Something to think about next spring when “tax-time” comes around and Uncle Sam demands that you pay a couple of thousand dollars in taxes because you made a whopping $50,000 this year and had no dependents. This country might just be the most corrupt in the world. The only difference is that ours is “organized” corruption – organized by the federal government of course.
How disgusting!!! TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Forbes
By Chris Barth | Forbes
Thirty large U.S. corporations paid more money to Congressional lobbyists than they paid in taxes from 2008-2010, according to a new report from Public Campaign, a purportedly non-partisan corporate watchdog organization that seeks to reduce the influence of big companies in politics. The report names 30 profitable companies (only one of which paid federal corporate taxes during the period analyzed), with lobbying expenditures ranging from $710,000 to $84.4 million.
The worst offender, according to the report, is General Electric. The company – which drew fire earlier this year when its lack of taxes came to light – spent over $39 million on lobbyists in 2010 alone, to firms like Federal Policy Group and Capitol Tax Partners. The energy giant avoided paying any U.S. taxes, and indeed received tax rebates totaling over $4.7 billion over the three years studied.
PG&E spent the second most on lobbying among the corporations named. In fact, it topped GE’s 2010 totals, spending nearly $45.5 million on lobbying last year. From 2008 through 2010, the company spent just under $79 million on lobbying.
Only one of the companies named in the report paid income taxes during the period analyzed, although even that company paid a tiny fraction of the standard corporate tax rate. FedEx paid $37 million in taxes – good for a tax rate of 1%. During that same period, FedEx spent $50.8 million on lobbying.
The Public Campaign report, which utilizes data from the Center for Responsive Politics, Citizens for Tax Justice and SEC filings, also contains details on corporate campaign contributions and executive compensation. Honeywell had the highest total Federal campaign contributions (from Political Action Committees and employees to candidates and party committees) during the three year period, contributing $5.1 million to Federal campaigns. Honeywell also ranked second to General Electric in compensation paid to top executives in 2010.
The list of the 30 corporations that paid more for lobbying than they paid in U.S. federal taxes follows. To read the full report, including executive compensation and political contributions, click here.
All figures below in millions.
| Company | Profits | Taxes | Paid Lobbying |
| General Electric | $10,460 | -$4,737 | $84.35 |
| PG&E Corp | $4,855 | -$1,027 | $78.99 |
| Verizon Communications | $32,518 | -$951 | $52.34 |
| Wells Fargo | $49,370 | -$681 | $11.04 |
| American Electric Power | $5,899 | -$545 | $28.85 |
| Pepco Holdings | $882 | -$508 | $3.76 |
| Computer Sciences | $1,666 | -$305 | $4.39 |
| CenterPoint Energy | $1,931 | -$284 | $2.65 |
| NiSource | $1,385 | -$227 | $17.47 |
| Duke Energy | $5,475 | -$216 | $17.47 |
| Boeing | $9,735 | -$178 | $52.29 |
| NextEra Energy | $6,403 | -$139 | $9.99 |
| Consolidated Edison | $4,263 | -$127 | $1.79 |
| Paccar | $365 | -$112 | $0.76 |
| Integrys Energy Group | $818 | -$92 | $2.45 |
| Wisconsin Energy | $1,725 | -$85 | $2.45 |
| DuPont | $2,124 | -$72 | $13.75 |
| Baxter International | $926 | -$66 | $10.45 |
| Tenet Healthcare | $415 | -$48 | $3.43 |
| Ryder System | $627 | -$46 | $0.96 |
| El Paso | $4,105 | -$41 | $2.94 |
| Honeywell International | $4,903 | -$34 | $18.30 |
| CMS Energy | $1,292 | -$29 | $3.48 |
| ConLway | $286 | -$26 | $2.29 |
| Navistar International | $896 | -$18 | $6.31 |
| DTE Energy | $2,551 | -$17 | $4.37 |
| Interpublic Group | $571 | -$15 | $1.30 |
| Mattel | $1,020 | -$4 | $2.81 |
| Corning | $1,977 | -$4 | $2.81 |
| FedEx | $4,247 | $37 | $50.81 |
