Dollars and Jens
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Corporate Taxes
The Journal reports:
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.If you subscribe, you can read a longer version of the story. One paragraph not in the summary:
The report examined a sample of tax information for the years 1996 through 2000; for 2000, it covered about 2.1 million returns filed by U.S.-controlled corporations and 69,000 filed by foreign-controlled corporations. It showed that big companies -- defined as those with at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in gross receipts -- were more likely to pay taxes than smaller ones. Still, the GAO said 45.3% of large U.S.-controlled companies and 37.5% of large foreign-controlled companies had no tax liability in 2000. More than 35% paid less than 5% of their income.I, like most Americans, generally support simplification of the tax code -- i.e., fewer deductions. But if you poll people about specific deductions, they usually support keeping them, and I'm not certain I'd disagree.
