Due to completely messed up U.S. tax policies, some even got a rebate check. Only small businesses pay taxes. Big companies often pay nothing at all.
Look at a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice ( http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2015/04/fifteen_of_many_reasons_why_we_need_corporate_tax_reform.php#.VSbihhPF8QY ), a Washington, D.C. group. It finds that some of nation's most famous brands have paid remarkably little to the government over the last five years. In fact, many actually enjoyed a negative tax rate: They received a nice rebate check from the U.S. Treasury.
The 15 giants highlighted by CTJ were chosen to represent a wide range of industries among Fortune 500 companies. They include CBS, Mattel, Prudential, and the California utility PG&E. Together, they paid no federal income tax in 2014, despite profits totaling $23 billion. CTJ's point is that these companies are not anomalies, they are examples.
(Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday April 15 2015, @06:41PM
I've written about two pages' worth of directly-related material in two journal [soylentnews.org] entries [soylentnews.org]. Such is my attempt to distill the core concepts of individual self-ownership, delegated authority, and the consequences of violating such principles from the perspective of a modern-day USian into a form that can be quickly read and attacked by critics. If the ideas I present fall to scrutiny, that is a good thing, as the ideas I presented were wrong. I will then see if there appears to be any truth remaining in the rubble, and attempt to extract it from the failure and try again to test the idea for weakness.
If instead the ideas are found to be sound after a critical examination, then I challenge the examiners to use them to test their own premises.