Coincidentally, 2 pieces published today reporting on Reports just out - with some significant stats to go with them - put into sharp focus why the general populace sees itself as screwed (no other word for it!) and at the mercy of large multinationals (think spoiling the atmosphere in which we all live) ....
First, this from The New York Times:
"Complaining that the United States has one of the world’s highest corporate tax levels, President Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly vowed to shrink it.
Yet if the level is so high, why have so many companies’ income tax bills added up to zero?
That’s what a new analysis of 258 profitable Fortune 500 companies that earned more than $3.8 trillion in profits showed.
Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. Eighteen, including General Electric, International Paper, Priceline.com and PG&E, incurred a total federal income tax bill of less than zero over the entire eight-year period — meaning they received rebates. The institute used the companies’ own regulatory filings to compute their tax rates."
And this from The Age:
"Eight of the world's largest oil companies are responsible for as much of the climate-damaging pollution spewed into the atmosphere as the entire US, according to a study by a London-based researcher.
Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil, OAO Gazprom, National Iranian Oil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell were among the eight companies whose fuel was responsible for a third of emissions from oil and gas, according to the non-profit group CDP.
The companies released a fifth of all greenhouse gases outside of farming and forestry since 1988, the year most governments acknowledged man-made climate change as a risk."
First, this from The New York Times:
"Complaining that the United States has one of the world’s highest corporate tax levels, President Trump and congressional Republicans have repeatedly vowed to shrink it.
Yet if the level is so high, why have so many companies’ income tax bills added up to zero?
That’s what a new analysis of 258 profitable Fortune 500 companies that earned more than $3.8 trillion in profits showed.
Although the top corporate rate is 35 percent, hardly any company actually pays that. The report, by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning research group in Washington, found that 100 of them — nearly 40 percent — paid no taxes in at least one year between 2008 and 2015. Eighteen, including General Electric, International Paper, Priceline.com and PG&E, incurred a total federal income tax bill of less than zero over the entire eight-year period — meaning they received rebates. The institute used the companies’ own regulatory filings to compute their tax rates."
And this from The Age:
"Eight of the world's largest oil companies are responsible for as much of the climate-damaging pollution spewed into the atmosphere as the entire US, according to a study by a London-based researcher.
Saudi Aramco, Exxon Mobil, OAO Gazprom, National Iranian Oil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell were among the eight companies whose fuel was responsible for a third of emissions from oil and gas, according to the non-profit group CDP.
The companies released a fifth of all greenhouse gases outside of farming and forestry since 1988, the year most governments acknowledged man-made climate change as a risk."
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