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The Billions Corporations Avoided Paying in Taxes Would Have Created Over 100,000 Jobs in Education
ThinkProgress / News Analysis
Published: Friday 18 November 2011
“Republican lawmakers continue to aid and abet corporate tax avoidance by protecting offshore profit deferral, which allows corporations to claim domestic tax credits for profits they earn overseas.”
With income inequality in the U.S. at its highest level since the Great Depression, Americans from every end of the income spectrum are clamoring for corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes. But because of the numerous tax loopholes and credits worked into the tax code, corporate taxes are at historical lows.
Bank of America paid nothing in federal taxes in 2009. While earning billions in profit, companies like Boeing, Exxon-Mobil, and Wells Fargo also paid nothing in recent years. Other corporations, like Google and Pfizer, dramatically lower their tax rates by deferring profits they make overseas. After making more than $14 billion in profits last year, General Electric not only got a pass on paying any corporate income taxes, but actually received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
Thanks to this propitious tax code, corporations kept $222.7 billion in federal revenue from 2008 to 2010. But the loss of that revenue comes at a cost, a cost being paid by middle class and low-income Americans who are already reeling from a sluggish economy — most notably, students. According to a new report from the National Education Association, $9.8 billion of the lost revenue from corporation would have gone to public schools and colleges over the same period. Those funds would have added over 100,000 jobs in public education and ensured that an extra 400,000 kids living in poverty could enroll in preschool. NEA breaks down that $9.8 billion by the numbers:
– $1,092: The average amount in extra academic support to help 9 million students in poverty catch up to their peers.
– $1,474: The average savings for school districts for each disabled student as a result of greater federal cost sharing.
– $1,276: The average amount in additional financial aid to ensure 7.7 million students in need continue or complete their post-secondary studies.
– 446,655: The number of additional children in poverty enrolled in preschool.
– 126,568: The number of jobs created in the field of education.
With that $9.8 billion, Ohio would have gained 4,363 jobs, Virginia would get 2,794 jobs, Kentucky would have 2,175 jobs, and Arizona would see more 4,094 jobs. Incidentally, these states are also home to Republican leaders in Congress who are singularly dedicated to maintaining this corporate welfare.
As TP Economy editor Pat Garofalo reported, Republican lawmakers continue to aid and abet corporate tax avoidance by protecting offshore profit deferral, which allows corporations to claim domestic tax credits for profits they earn overseas; by proposing to gut the Internal Revenue Service, whose every dollar used to audit tax cheats brings in more than $10 in revenue; by pushing for tax havens in free trade agreements; by enacting repatriation holidays that allow corporations to bring money earned overseas back into the country at a drastically lower rate, even with its negligible effect on job creation; by endorsing taxpayer giveaways like big oil subsidies; and by publicly defending corporate tax dodgers.
Working on behalf of corporations at the expense of American students and families is quickly becoming part of the Republican orthodoxy. This, however, should not be surprising because after all, for Republicans, “corporations are people too.”
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11 comments on "The Billions Corporations Avoided Paying in Taxes Would Have Created Over 100,000 Jobs in Education"
96Onrn sdkaydrvdhto
Sumesh Well, for novice I may still remecmond blogger ;P. I too started up with Blogger's blog initially Well, about the data guarantee I have no comments after hearing about Gmail disaster way back in 2006 end.
hgzojunv
November 19, 2011 6:06pm
"The Billions Corporations Avoided Paying in Taxes Would Have Created Over 100,000 Jobs in Education"
Does that include all the Billion$ they spent buying politicians, campaigns, and elections?
November 19, 2011 5:11pm
Buy Nothing Day is Friday the 25th.
From AdBusters, the ppl who started OWS.
Buy Nothing!
November 19, 2011 9:05am
The 1% own the Republican and Democratic parties. Remember the old Sheriff of Nottingham's policy: Steal from the poor and give to the rich. Alas, where are you Robin?
November 18, 2011 3:09pm
I suspect this "profit money" is actually still held "overseas". It is not actually taxable until it is repatriated to the US. So a company will keep that money
over there and reinvest it overthere were it cannot be taxed by the US.
November 18, 2011 3:00pm
All of this thievery, because that is what it is, was enabled by the US Congress. The recent US SCJ sell-out of American democracy only strengthened the ability of corporations to keep robbing the American people. Until we get rid of the corruption in Congress, the robbing of America will go on. The only way, short of a revolution, is to vote people in that are neither Repugnants nor Demagogues, but independent human beings.
November 18, 2011 12:59pm
This is the only way. And it's a good way to live, not just an economic weapon. I haven't had a car for two years and my life, though awkward at times, has been enriched and transformed. Cars and consumption go together. And I also think cars alienate people from each other. Wouldn't it be a new world altogether if the sidewalks and roads were filled with people walking to their destinations? Getting exercise? Being aware of the season? Meeting their fellows on equal ground?
November 18, 2011 11:56am
HEY OWS and the 99%! Aren’t you angry? Use it!
HIT THESE BASTARDS WHERE IT HURTS. IN THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS.
We have POWER! “Buying Power.” And, it’s about time we used it. Here’s how.
STOP BUYING THINGS. STOP BUYING…EVERYTHING.
WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE KILLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, eBay, etc., All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be left in shock not knowing what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 18, 2011 10:35am
Ha! Been saying this for ages...if we want to save real money and help move this country forward, closing the tax loopholes that corporations can slip through is a great place to start.
http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2011/10/tax-corporations/
http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2011/11/wheres-my-money-oil-company-su...