Big corporations are making bigger and bigger profits, but they’re contributing less and less in taxes. That means they are doing less and less to help build roads and bridges, maintain our schools and fund the many other services government provides.
Sixty years ago, 30 percent of total federal tax revenue was from corporations. Today it’s just 10 percent. Corporations’ official tax rate: 35 percent. The average tax rate all corporations actually pay: 27.7 percent. And in 2010, large, profitable corporations paid only 12.6 percent. Companies like GE and Verizon have even figured out how to pay zero dollars in federal taxes in some recent years.
Big corporations can duck out of paying their fair share of taxes by exploiting special tax breaks and loopholes. What’s more, many of these tax avoidance schemes encourage corporations to shift profits overseas — and American jobs, too. If we care about seeing “Made in the USA,” we have to insist that these loopholes get closed.
As Americans who are loyal to our communities and our country, we pay our taxes because we want to invest in America and the next generation. Big corporations should do the same.
Find Out More:
- ATF Corporate Tax Reform Principles 1/30/2015
For a better future, elected leaders must make sure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
Big corporations are aggressively pushing two types of “tax reform.”
