2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders Terrifies Wall Street By Exposing The Top 10 Corporate Tax Dodgers
Bernie Sanders is making Big Business shudder by using his platform as a presidential candidate to expose the top 10 biggest tax dodgers in the United States
Here are the top 10 corporate tax dodgers via Citizens for Tax Justice:
1. General Electric
2. Boeing
3. Verizon
4. Bank of America
5. Citigroup
6. Pfizer
7. FedEx
8. Honeywell
9. Merck
10. Corning
During a town meeting at Iowa Wesleyan University, Sanders said, Three major profitable corporations not only pay nothing in federal income taxes, they actually got a rebate from the IRS. In America today we are losing $100 billion in revenue every single year because large corporations are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/01/29/bernie-sanders-terrifies-wall-street-exposing-top-10-corporate-tax-dodgers.html
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)This is a new version of the old children's book: The Emperor Has No Clothes
dorkzilla
(5,141 posts)In fact he comments here...great guy, had boots on the ground since I think before Bernie announced. ANYWAY...he mentions Wellstone/Wellstone Academy a lot and every time he does, I get a giant lump in my throat and think Please Bernie, please stay out of small planes..."
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)actually think these corps shouldnt pay any taxes.
They think if they paid less tax, it would help THEM
I know...I know
frazzled
(18,402 posts)The government loses billions of tax dollars due to this industry, whereby corporations insure themselves. And Bernie Sanders opposed the IRS trying to tighten the rules on them. Vermont is a haven for this industry, and is second only to the Cayman Islands in this type of offshore enterprise.
PyaarRevolution
(814 posts)Verizon are SCUM, they are schmucks. These assholes think they have the RIGHT to express editorial content with what you post on the Internet. So the question is, do Verizon fund any of the Democratic Presidential candidates or candidates in general?
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)No wonder they are so angry at him. Not the people didn't know, OWS helped get this 'secret' into the public diaogue Bernie is using his microphone now to keep it where it belongs, up front in the public dialogue.
JudyM
(29,225 posts)Gregorian
(23,867 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,342 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,342 posts)General Electric (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in New York,[4] and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut.[2] As of 2015, the company operates through the following segments: Appliances, Power and Water, Oil and Gas, Energy Management, Aviation, Healthcare, Transportation and Capital which cater to the needs of Home Appliances, Financial services, Medical device, Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, Software Development and Engineering industries.
In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 500 as the 6th-largest firm in the U.S. by gross revenue,[5] and the 14th most profitable.[6] As of 2012 the company was listed the fourth-largest in the world among the Forbes Global 2000, further metrics being taken into account.[7] The Nobel Prize has twice been awarded to employees of General Electric: Irving Langmuir in 1932 and Ivar Giaever in 1973.[8]
(snip)
The six reactors in the 2011 Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant catastrophe had been designed by General Electric. Their design had been criticised as far back as 1972.[74]
In March 2011, The New York Times reported that, despite earning $14.2 billion in worldwide profits, including more than $5 billion from U.S. operations, General Electric did not owe taxes in 2010. General Electric had a tax refund of $3.2 billion. This same article also pointed out that GE has reduced its American workforce by one fifth since 2002.[75]
In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized General Electric for spending $84.35 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 20082010, instead getting $4.7 billion in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $10.4 billion, laying off 4,168 workers since 2008, and increasing executive pay by 27% to $75.9 million in 2010 for the top 5 executives.[76]
Between March 1990 and February 2001, General Electric was fined or ordered to pay damages by a court 42 times, amounting to at least $934,027,215, according to a report from the Multinational Monitor.[77]
General Electric was one of the pioneers and early widespread adopters of planned obsolescence, with a major part in the Phoebus cartel.[78]
GE has a history of some of its activities giving rise to large-scale air and water pollution. Based on year 2000 data,[79] researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute listed the corporation as the fourth-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with more than 4.4 million pounds per year (2,000 tons) of toxic chemicals released into the air.[80] GE has also been implicated in the creation of toxic waste. According to EPA documents, only the United States Government, Honeywell, and Chevron Corporation are responsible for producing more Superfund toxic waste sites.[81]
In 1983, New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York to compel GE to pay for the cleanup of what was claimed to be more than 100,000 tons of chemicals dumped from their plant in Waterford, New York.[82] In 1999, the company agreed to pay a $250 million settlement in connection with claims it polluted the Housatonic River (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) and other sites with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances.[83]
In 2003, acting on concerns that the plan proposed by GE did not "provide for adequate protection of public health and the environment," the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a unilateral administrative order for the company to "address cleanup at the GE site" in Rome, Georgia, also contaminated with PCBs.[84]
The nuclear reactors involved in the 2011 crisis at Fukushima I in Japan are GE designs,[85] and the architectural designs were done by Ebasco,[86] formerly owned by GE. Concerns over the design and safety of these reactors were raised as early as 1972, but tsunami danger was not discussed at that time.[87] As of 2014, the same model nuclear power reactors designed by GE are operating in the US,[88] such as the controversial Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
General Electric heavily contaminated the Hudson River with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between 1947-77.[89] This pollution caused a range of harmful effects to wildlife and people who eat fish from the river or drink the water.[90] In response to this contamination, activists protested in various ways. Musician Pete Seeger founded the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and the Clearwater Festival to draw attention to the problem. The activism led to the site being designated by the EPA as one of the superfund sites requiring extensive cleanup.[91] Other sources of pollution, including mercury contamination and sewage dumping, have also contributed to problems in the Hudson River watershed.[92][93]
Pollution of the Housatonic River[edit]
From circa 1932 until 1977, General Electric polluted the Housatonic River with PCBs discharges from the General Electric plant at Pittsfield, Massachusetts.[94] Aroclor 1254 and Aroclor 1260, made by Monsanto was the primary contaminant of the pollution.[95][96] The highest concentrations of PCBs in the Housatonic River are found in Woods Pond in Lenox, Massachusetts, just south of Pittsfield, where they have been measured up to 110 mg/kg in the sediment.[96] About 50% of all the PCBs currently in the river are estimated to be retained in the sediment behind Woods Pond dam. This is estimated to be about 11,000 pounds of PCBs.[96] Former filled oxbows are also polluted.[97] Waterfowl and fish who live in and around the river contain significant levels of PCBs and can present health risks if consumed.[98][99][100]
GE owns
NBCUniversal (colloquially referred to as NBCU or NBCUni) is an American media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base. The company owns and operates American television networks, numerous cable channels, and a group of local stations in the United States, as well as motion picture companies, several television production companies, and branded theme parks. It is the world's largest mass media group.
NBC Universal was formed on May 12, 2004 by the merger of General Electric's National Broadcasting Company with Vivendi's Vivendi Universal Entertainment.[8][9] GE and US cable TV operator Comcast announced a buyout agreement for the company on December 3, 2009. Following regulatory approvals, the transaction completed on January 28, 2011. Comcast subsequently owned 51% of NBCUniversal while GE owned 49%.[9][10][11] Comcast intended to buy out the rest of GE's stake over the following seven years, but nothing happened until February 12, 2013, when Comcast announced its intention to complete the purchase all at once and assume 100% ownership of the company by the end of March.[12][13] The deal was finalized on March 19, 2013.[14]
Originally, the NBC Universal logo was a combination of the NBC peacock logo and the Universal Studios globe and text. The logo was redesigned by Wolff Olins on January 31, 2011 to reflect the new Comcast ownership[15] and the unity of its two main divisions.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBCUniversal
Don't expect too much positive coverage of Bernie from NBC or MSNBC in the near future.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Duppers
(28,117 posts)I don't remember looking GE up on wiki before. Explains a lot of what's happening on MSNBC. Matthews is no longer watchable.
TheBlackAdder
(28,182 posts).
Disney and Koch industries have one major thing in common, they both use E&Y to dodge US Taxes!
How much of this movie's profits will get parked offshort at 0.75% tax, while lobbying for a tax amnesty to repatriate it?
http://www.icij.org/project/luxembourg-leaks/new-leak-reveals-luxembourg-tax-deals-disney-koch-brothers-empire
http://www.reuters.com/article/luxembourg-tax-disney-idUSL6N0TT4EM20141210
.
EdwardBernays
(3,343 posts)Owns a lobbying form which represents:
General Electric
Boeing
Bank of America
Merck
Corning bigwigs bundled hundreds of thousands for the Clinton campaign.
Honeywell is part of the Clinton Climate Initiative and donated to the Clinton Foundation.
Alfred Mottur, whose a major Clinton bundler and a drug industry lobbyist, works for the firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, who are major FedEx lobbyists.
Pfizer gave over a million at least to the Clinton Foundation.
Citigroup has donated extensively to Podesta's organization Center for American Progress, which is run by a Clinton campaign staffer.
Verizon has given extensively to Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Uncle Joe
(58,342 posts)Thanks for the addition, EdwardBernays.
EdwardBernays
(3,343 posts)People should know this stuff.
JudyM
(29,225 posts)Really Shakespearean in scope.
And it's actually worse than all that.
840high
(17,196 posts)CharlotteVale
(2,717 posts)jalan48
(13,856 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,342 posts)Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)It is a great visual, you posted, that shows what is really going on.
At a DU gathering of locals about 7 or 8yrs ago, I made a joke about trickle down being exactly this! So, yep, I really like this graphic.
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)Jenny_92808
(1,342 posts)from bank of america to a non-profit credit union bank. I urge others to do the same.
Uncle Joe
(58,342 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)scottie55
(1,400 posts)So billionaires don't have to.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)for years
EndElectoral
(4,213 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)Why did he compromise his principles? The insurance companies surely dodge their taxes too. Aren't they the most evil organizations on the planet?
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Jamie Dimons $13 Billion Secret
The inside story of JPMorgan Chases landmark mortgage settlement
By William D. Cohan
August 13, 2014
http://www.thenation.com/article/jamie-dimons-13-billion-secret/
treestar
(82,383 posts)Number employed by Boeing: 165,000
http://www.boeing.com/company/general-info/
Number employed by Verizon: 177,700
Number employed by Bank of America and other banks
https://www.google.com/webhp?tab=lw&ei=205OVvSUEcSt-QGTt4T4AQ&ved=0CAQQqS4oAQ#q=number+of+people+employed+by+bank+of+America
Is there proof of breaking any laws? Not paying any required taxes? Because anyone will not pay taxes where they don't have to. The IRS will go after taxes that are due but unpaid.
This kind of thing is only a horror to BS and his supporters. The average voter does not give a shit. And if you don't work for one of those, you likely use the services of one. I use Fed Ex and have credit cards with Bank of America. I use Fed Ex pursuant to my work, so they perform a service I need. They employ people. At some point, you are involved with big companies no matter who you are, and your employer certainly is.