GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits

"So Petey, you're ok with this? "General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked." Ahh, capitalism at it's best."

Hey folks,

Since I couldn't be here on Friday, I thought I would take a few seconds to answer a question that I would have on Friday, TODAY. I love when the Liberals use GE to attempt to ask Got ya questions. {Smile}

Here is the Link: The Weekly Standard - GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits 1:11 PM, Nov 17, 2011 • By JOHN MCCORMACK

General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn't pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

The fact that GE paid no taxes in 2010 was widely reported earlier this year, but the size of its tax return first came to light when House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) made the case for corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting. "GE was able to utilize all of these various loopholes, all of these various deductions--it's legal," Ryan said. Nine billion dollars of GE's profits came overseas, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. tax law. GE wasn't taxed on $5 billion in U.S. profits because it utilized numerous deductions and tax credits, including tax breaks for investments in low-income housing, green energy, research and development, as well as depreciation of property.

"I asked the GE tax officer, 'How long was your tax form?'" Ryan said. "He said, 'Well, we file electronically, we don't measure in pages.'" Ryan asked for an estimate, which came back at a stunning 57,000 pages. When Ryan relayed the story at the townhall meeting in Janesville, there were audible gasps from the crowd.

So is there a problem? Yup. And it is the Republicans attempting to fix it. However, GE IS Obama. {Laughing} Obama IS in bed with GE. He is OK with them paying nothing. They are his friends. He is only against people that are not his friends. He is only against those that do NOT contribute to his Causes and Campaign.

Ken Kies, a tax lawyer who represents GE, confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD the tax return would have been 57,000 pages had it been filed on paper. The size of GE's tax return has more than doubled in the last five years.

Ryan used the data point to underscore the irrationality of the corporate income tax code. He also contrasted GE with UPS to make the point that the corporate income tax code doesn't make sense. "UPS paid a 34 percent effective tax rate," while its biggest foreign competitor, DHL, paid a 24 percent tax rate, Ryan said.

The problems with the corporate taxes occur because "Republicans and Democrats, both parties, sit in Congress and they're picking winners and losers," Ryan said. The solution, according to the Wisconsin congressman: "Get rid of those loopholes and lower tax rates by a corresponding amount. Don't lose revenue, but for every loophole you pull out, and deny a company from being able to get this little carveout, you can lower the rates so we can be more competitive with our competitors overseas. We want to stem the bleeding of jobs going overseas, of foreign companies buying U.S. companies and taking headquarters overseas."

Do you remember what the Don, Trump, said not too long ago? He said raise my taxes, but give me back my deductions. Why? He would actually pay LESS. What the Republicans want to do is lower Rates for all, but CLOSE the Loopholes, which would FORCE someone like GE to PAY their "Fair Share." So someone like UPS would pay less, but ALL would pay SOMETHING and that would INCREASE Revenue in total. For some reason, I don't know why, the Libs and Obama are just not down with that. They give too much money to them? They do not want to bite the hand that feeds them? Just a thought.
Peter

Sources:
The Weekly Standard - GE Filed 57,000-Page Tax Return, Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits