Skip to content Skip to footer
|

Five Corporations That Probably Didn’t Pay Taxes This Year

These corporations are some of the most egregious examples, and they’re far from alone.

While the average American taxpayer tends to dread April 15, not every person needs to get upset about Tax Day. These people (or, well, “people”), better known as corporations, have found that the existing tax rules actually work in their favor. Why bother stressing when you know that, in addition to making millions in profits, the U.S. government is going to be giving you a rebate?

To be clear, we don’t yet know what specific corporations are paying this year until that information becomes public. However, if filing reports from recent years are any indication, these five companies know some clever accounting tricks that will help them wriggle out of having to pay federal taxes.

1. General Electric

The multibillion corporation has received rebates over the past 5%, and spent the better part of the early 2000s paying a tax rate of just 1%. In 2013, it was publicized that the company is making the most of lenient tax laws by stashing away over $100 billion in profits in Ireland where the tax rate is much lower.

2. Time Warner

The reviled telecommunication company not only has an effective monopoly over the internet for many Americans, it also has found tricks to rip off the IRS. Last year, the company took in $4.3 billion and still managed to secure a $26 million rebate from the government. I’m sure that’ll make you feel great the next time your router fails to connect.

3. Xerox

The company has a storied history of trying to dodge taxes – back in 2001, attempts to move money offshore actually backfired – but now it seems they’ve found the magic formula by, well, copying other corporations’ success. Last year, Xerox managed to pay nothing in taxes, and actually receive a $16 million rebate.

4. Mattel

The toy company offers both an unattainable portrayal of the female body with its Barbie dolls and an unattainable tax rebate with its 2014 filing. No average tax payer can realistically expect to match Mattel’s $46 million rebate, which means the company paid a tax rate of negative 17.3%.

5. Prudential

Perhaps it makes sense that a financial company would understand how to exploit the existing tax system and actually turn an additional profit off of it. In 2014, the company made $3.5 billion, and – rather than paying taxes on that – still got the U.S government to rebate it $106 million. This is hardly new behavior. In the past five years, Prudential has managed to make $468 million from the government in tax rebates. It must be nice!

While these corporations are some of the more egregious examples from recent years, they’re far from alone. As a report by the Citizens for Tax Justice declares, the average corporation pays under 20% in taxes, far short of the 35% corporate tax rate the United States purports to have.

We’re not going to stand for it. Are you?

You don’t bury your head in the sand. You know as well as we do what we’re facing as a country, as a people, and as a global community. Here at Truthout, we’re gearing up to meet these threats head on, but we need your support to do it: We must raise $50,000 to ensure we can keep publishing independent journalism that doesn’t shy away from difficult — and often dangerous — topics.

We can do this vital work because unlike most media, our journalism is free from government or corporate influence and censorship. But this is only sustainable if we have your support. If you like what you’re reading or just value what we do, will you take a few seconds to contribute to our work?