We Pay taxes. Big Corporate Skates.

You did not find this information in the Journal. It was in most responsible national papers on Friday and 60 Minutes on Sunday. The NYT broke the story and is running a series on how few taxes Big Corporate actually pay, but no series is in our Journal. The Journal does, however, try to keep us up on Charlie Sheen.

While huge corporations continue to scream about high U.S. Taxes, 60% of big U.S. corporations paid NO (none) taxes to the U.S. in 2005 (the last year we have this kind of data), and, according to 60 minutes and the network news, the number is growing rapidly.

I don't know about you, but this is a major untold story. My federal taxes are always in the 10%-20% range, and you can bet that local Albuquerque businesses are getting stuck for 20% to 35% while Big Corporate skates.

A fascinating NYT story is below:

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.

By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI Published: March 24, 2011

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None! (Same with Exxon) In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.

Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

While General Electric is one of the most skilled at reducing its tax burden, many other companies have become better at this as well. Although the top corporate tax rate in the United States is 35 percent, one of the highest in the world, companies have been increasingly using a maze of shelters, tax credits and subsidies to pay far less.

The rest of the story is here.