The Biden Administration is about to be locked in a battle with big business over corporate taxes. He wants to increase them to help fund his infrastructure bill, which has an estimated price tag of $1.9 trillion. One part of his plan would increase corporate taxes from 21% to 28%.
Among the first reactions across America’s biggest companies and their lobbying groups is that the money that would go to new taxes should go to investment in corporate expansion, which in turn drives jobs. To extend that argument, more jobs mean more personal tax income for the federal government. The big business argument is partly, “don’t tax us, tax the incomes of the people we will add in the future”.
Activists groups argue that a huge portion of corporate profits does not go to investment at all. Much of the money finds its way to dividends and share buybacks which improve the returns of investors. And, another piece of the profits goes to pay senior corporate managements tens of millions of dollars.
Some of America’s largest companies did not pay corporate federal taxes at all in 2020. The companies often say this is for good reason. They have lost money or invested all of their profits. Non-profit ITEP takes issue with that and offers a report each year. For this year, it is entitled “55 Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Taxes on 2020 Profits.” Among the points of the analysis is that the corporations on the list brought in $40.5 billion last year, so losses were not the issue driving whether these companies made federal income tax payments.
The ITEP says that there are specific reasons these 55 companies paid no taxes. “Their total corporate tax breaks for 2020, including $8.5 billion in tax avoidance and $3.5 billion in rebates, comes to $12 billion.” This makes the effective federal tax rate for these companies zero, or even negative. The counter-argument from many is that they pay huge payroll taxes, and often pay local taxes as well.
Some of America’s best-known companies are on this list. They include FedEx, Nike, Dish, and Charter Communications. The list is dominated by tech, financial services, and utilities.
No matter which side of the debate people are on, these 55 companies paid no federal corporate taxes last year.
Company                          Industry
Advanced Micro Devices   Computers
Akamai Technologies         Computers
Albemarle                           Chemicals
American Electric Power     Utilities
Archer Daniels Midland      Food & beverages
Ball                                      Manufacturing
Booz Allen Hamilton          Computers
Cabot                                 Oil
Charter Communications  Telecommunications
CMSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Energy Utilities
Community Health Sys      Health care
Consolidated Edison          Utilities
Danaher                             Manufacturing
Dexcom                              Pharmaceuticals
Dish Network                     Telecommunications
DTE Energy                         Utilities
Duke Energy                       Utilities
Ecolab                                 Chemicals
Evergy                                 Utilities
FedEx                                  Services
FirstEnergy                          Utilities
Fiserv                                   Financial
Hologic                                Health care
Howmet Aerospace             Manufacturing
HPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Computers
Interpublic Group               Services
Jacobs Engineering             Engineering
Kansas City Southern           Transportation
Kinder Morgan                     Oil
Lincoln National                  Financial
Michaels                              Retail
Mohawk Industries             Manufacturing
Nike                                    Manufacturing
Nucor                                 Metals
Owens & Minor                  Retail
Penske Automotive            Motor vehicles
PPLÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Utilities
Qurate Retail Group            Internet
Salesforce.com                   Computers
Sanmina-SCIÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Computers
Seaboard                             Food & beverages
Sealed Air                            Manufacturing
Telephone & Data Sys        Telecommunications
Textron                               Aerospace
Treehouse Foods Food,      Beverages
Tutor Perini                         Engineering
Tyler Technologies              Computers
UGI Utilities,                       Gas and electric
Unum Group                      Financial
Verisign                              Computers
Voya Financial                    Financial
Westlake Chemical             Chemicals
Williams                              Oil
Xcel Energy                         Utilities
Xilinx                                   Computers
Click here to read These Are The American Companies With The Worst Reputations.
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