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xchrom

(108,903 posts) Sun Apr 29, 2012, 08:50 AM Apr 2012

GE faces Occupy protest over it's low taxes - CEO falsely claims it pays high rate

http://www.nationofchange.org/general-electric-faces-occupy-protest-over-its-low-taxes-ceo-falsely-claims-it-pays-high-rate-133570

Occupy protesters chanting “we pay taxes and you should too” interrupted General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt today during a speech in Detroit before the SAE World Congress. Other protesters in the hall chanted “we are the 99 percent” before being escorted off the premises by police.

“We pay 29 per cent,” Immelt responded. A GE spokesman later told CBS that “the 29 percent tax rate was what the company paid globally in 2011. In the U.S., the rate was 25 percent.”

However, that doesn’t jive with what Citizens for Tax Justice found in a recent report. CTJ calculated that GE paid an 11.3 percent tax rate in 2011, which is actually a huge increase over previous years. In 2010, for instance, GE paid -76.6 percent. In 2009, it was -52.9 percent. So in each of those years, the government subsidized the hugely profitable mega-corporation:GE’s low taxes stem mainly from its finance arm, GE Capital, which makes big profits, but generates huge tax “losses” that reduce GE’s taxable income from its other operations. Over the past decade, GE has paid virtually nothing in federal income taxes, paying a paltry 2.3% tax rate on its $83 billion in pretax U.S. profits.

9 replies

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GE faces Occupy protest over it's low taxes - CEO falsely claims it pays high rate (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2012 OP

The world's largest defense contractor is a parasite on the American People. Scuba Apr 2012 #1

And then, they ask for incentives to stay at long-time locations or they'll pick up and leave. Frustratedlady Apr 2012 #2

if your talking about iowa -- it was a 50% pay cut. xchrom Apr 2012 #4

I wanted to say 50%, but it was so ridiculous, I couldn't post it for fear it was wrong. Frustratedlady Apr 2012 #7

They followed the rules. Paying anything extra is charity according to Elizabeth Warren. dkf Apr 2012 #3

They followed the rules 90-percent Apr 2012 #5

42% didn't pay federal income tax for one reason or another. dkf Apr 2012 #6

Why do you always distort this issue? xchrom Apr 2012 #8

Are you sure that was Elizabeth Warren? jmowreader Apr 2012 #9

Scuba

(53,475 posts)

1. The world's largest defense contractor is a parasite on the American People.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 08:56 AM

Apr 2012

Frustratedlady

(16,254 posts)

2. And then, they ask for incentives to stay at long-time locations or they'll pick up and leave.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:19 AM

Apr 2012

Not only did they negotiate huge salary cuts, but got state/local tax cuts to stay in town. They have been here for as long as I can remember and their loss would have been devastating. They know how to pull your chain.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)

4. if your talking about iowa -- it was a 50% pay cut.

Reply to Frustratedlady (Reply #2)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:33 AM

Apr 2012

absolutely infuriating.

Frustratedlady

(16,254 posts)

7. I wanted to say 50%, but it was so ridiculous, I couldn't post it for fear it was wrong.

Reply to xchrom (Reply #4)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 08:56 PM

Apr 2012

Now that the employees are trying to get a union, GE will probably pick up and leave.

dkf

(37,305 posts)

3. They followed the rules. Paying anything extra is charity according to Elizabeth Warren.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:22 AM

Apr 2012

If people don't like the rules they need to complain to congress instead of persons who deduct what the laws say they can.

90-percent

(6,829 posts)

5. They followed the rules

Reply to dkf (Reply #3)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:52 AM

Apr 2012

Maybe gaming the system a little along the way? In addition to the 800 tax people GE has on staff****, presumably as tax law loop-hole-ologists*, modern American Corporations simply use their mega bucks to hire lobbyists and politicians to make the formerly illegal perfectly legal.

Yet another of the many benefits for corporations merging with the state. This is called fascism and it seems to be working out quite well for them.

-90% Jimmy

* a term coined by the great Keith Olbermann

*** FACT CHECK PLEASE. I read that factoid somewhere and it stuck with me. It came to light when it was revealed GE paid ZERO federal? taxes last year? So Obama appoints GE CEO Jeff Immelt to some jobs commission immediately thereafter? Nice. What do you expect from a Country where the Republican Presidential Candidate keeps his multi-million dollar fortune in the Cayman Islands. Couldn't that be framed as just a wee bit UNPATRIOTIC?

dkf

(37,305 posts)

6. 42% didn't pay federal income tax for one reason or another.

Reply to 90-percent (Reply #5)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:58 AM

Apr 2012

Now if you want to count payroll taxes and local taxes for individuals then I bet GE paid those too.

xchrom

(108,903 posts)

8. Why do you always distort this issue?

Reply to dkf (Reply #6)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:10 PM

Apr 2012

Individuals don't benefit in profits, tax breaks, etc to the same extent as the corporation.

The corporation uses the Commons to benefit it's self in a way individuals can't.

None of those workers - whether they pay income tax or not benefit the way the corporation and it's various big Whigs do.

It isn't contributing to the health of the community the way it should.

This isn't 'left wing' fantasy - it's been documented time & again - yet you always distort it, why?

jmowreader

(50,557 posts)

9. Are you sure that was Elizabeth Warren?

Reply to dkf (Reply #3)

Sun Apr 29, 2012, 09:50 PM

Apr 2012

I know Mitt Romney--after he finally admitted to paying fourteen percent on $25 million Line 22 income--has said that.

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