Tuesday, February 28, 2012

General Electric's Leadership on Taxes: 2.3% Effective Rate over Last 10 Years (GE)

Imagination at Work.
The writer somehow avoids mentioning that GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt is also Chairman of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
From the Huffington Post:
General Electric Tax Rate 2.3 Percent Over Decade, Report Finds 

General Electric
Caption: General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt seen during a discussion in Washington. D.C. earlier this month. An analysis of GE's taxes shows that the company paid just 2.3 percent of its profits in federal income tax over the past 10 years. 
 

General Electric again finds itself the focus of a politically-charged battle over corporate taxes.
A new analysis of the mega-corporation's tax filings shows that 2.3 percent of GE's pre-tax profits have gone to the federal government since 2002. That bears repeating: GE has paid an average tax rate of just 2.3 percent over the past decade, according to an analysis by the non-profit advocacy group Center for Tax Justice.

If you'll think back to your high school math classes, you'll recall that 2.3 percent is less than 35 percent. That means GE is paying well below the top marginal corporate tax rate of 35 percent -- the same tax rate that business leaders, politicians and conservative commentators have repeatedly deplored as high enough to impede economic growth....MORE
HT: the HuffPo's Mark Gongloff "Corporations Are People, But Only Sometimes: Seven And A Half Things To Know:"