Collage: Voice of Russia
Citizens
for Tax Justice looked at 288 profitable Fortune 500 companies and said
that 26 of them - including Boeing Co (BA.N), General Electric Co
(GE.N) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) - paid no federal income
tax in the five-year period.
The group also said that 111 of the 288 companies paid no federal income tax in at least one of the five years measured.
In
a reflection of how the tax code's complexity leaves many issues open
to question, corporations sometimes dispute the way Citizens for Tax
Justice calculates its numbers.
Some of the companies
singled out took exception to the findings. GE spokesman Seth Martin
said: "For each year cited by Citizens for Tax Justice, GE paid income
taxes in the US, as well as billions in other state, local and federal
taxes in the US."
He added, "CTJ inaccurately uses the
current tax provision - a book accounting number - to make definitive
statements about our U.S. income taxes. This is not the same as the cash
income tax that we pay for a given year."
A key player
in Washington's tax debate, Citizens for Tax Justice regularly issues
studies making similar findings about corporate taxes. U.S. lawmakers
often cite them in criticizing the tax code as too complex and riddled
with loopholes.
Despite complaints about it from across
the political spectrum, the tax code seldom changes. It has not been
thoroughly overhauled in 27 years. Congress is unlikely to do that in
2014, said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
"I
have no hope for that happening this year," he told reporters at the US
Capitol on Tuesday, blaming lawmakers' stubborn fiscal gridlock on
Democrats seeking tax increases.
Republican
Representative Dave Camp, who heads the top tax-writing committee in the
House of Representatives, is slated to unveil tax reform draft
legislation on Wednesday, though it is widely expected to sit on the
shelf with previous such drafts.
One of the main
obstacles to reform is the abundance of tax breaks in the code that
benefit corporations and individuals, lowering the effective tax rates
of both and giving them ample reason to resist tax changes that would
harm their interests.
Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers
said the aerospace manufacturer's tax bills are largely deferred until
it starts generating revenue from airplane sales. "We play by the rules.
We pay our taxes," he said, adding Boeing's total effective tax rate
for 2013 was 26.4 percent.
Verizon spokesman Bob
Varettoni said the telecommunications group complies with all tax laws
and pays its fair share of taxes. He said Verizon paid more than $2.9
billion in income taxes from 2008 to 2012.
Voice of Russia, Reuters
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