Sen. Bernie Sanders: The Top Ten Worst Corporate Income Tax Avoiders (Video)

Burlington, Vermont - While hard working Americans fill out their income tax returns this tax season, General Electric and other giant profitable corporations are avoiding U.S. taxes altogether.

With Congress returning to Capitol Hill on Monday to debate steep spending cuts, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations must do their share to help bring down our record-breaking deficit.

Sanders compiled a list of some of some of the 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders.

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

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The same entities behind cutting spending programs that help struggling Americans to lower the deficit are doing whatever they can to pay little to no taxes themselves.

It's pretty clear that the debts and deficits are going to be put on the backs of the middle class and poor.

this won't change...money talks and the US government only wants the "little people" to pay taxes. that's how it's been for years.

I don't care.

Everyone needs avoid taxes as much as possible.

reply to post by Rockdisjoint

I don't care. Everyone needs avoid taxes as much as possible.

Even if they have been bailed out, received more money than they have paid in, while at the same time sending millions of jobs overseas because of the claim that they are paying too much in taxes?

Originally posted by David9176
reply to post by Rockdisjoint

 

I don't care. Everyone needs avoid taxes as much as possible.

Even if they have been bailed out, received more money than they have paid in, while at the same time sending millions of jobs overseas because of the claim that they are paying too much in taxes?

I still don't care.

Americans need to do exactly what they do -- play their game kinda, fire up TurboTax and don't pay any taxes at all.