Among the 47% Who Pay No Income Taxes Is Mitt Romney Himself!
Mitt’s money that has not been funneled through offshore corporations linked to bank accounts in no tax jurisdictions has been taxed as capital gains, not income.
Mitt Romney dismissed 47% of the American people who don’t pay income tax as slackers and deadbeats. Thanks to a loophole Romney pays US taxes as “carried interest” which is taxed at the capital gains rate of 15%. That figure would not only include Romney himself who pays no income tax, but also all those corporate persons (remember Romney said, “Corporations are people, my friend.”) such as Exxon Mobil and GE who not only pay no income tax but get a generous rebate thanks to American taxpayers.
Here is a list of the top 10 corporate deadbeats and slackers (thanks to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont):
1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.
2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.
4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.
5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.
6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.
7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.
8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.
9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.
10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.
The poor in that 47% who pay no income tax pay plenty of other taxes. They pay social security tax which goes into the general fund, the same fund that income tax goes into. Currently, the social security tax rate for self-employed is 13.3%, about what Mitt Romney paid on his “carried interest.” There are no deductions and no exemptions for social security tax. In addition the poor pay state and local taxes and sales taxes so they pay plenty of taxes. Most of them don’t escape taxes by having offshore bank accounts as Romney does.
Some of the people in that 47% are senior citizens who don’t make enough to pay income tax. They too pay state and local as well as sales taxes.
The dynamic duo of Romney and Ryan would drive the entire economy into a nose dive as long as it benefits the richest Americans. Income inequality is endangering the Middle Class and making paupers of us all who don’t have those millions upon millions of dollars. Read more about the role of Romney’s riches in this election and the power of his sacred undergarments at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/05/mitt-romneys-magic-mormon-underwear.html The working class of our country can’t AFFORD to allow this election to be bought and sold!
Doesn’t this article describe the real takers, the real moochers, the real parasites?
Yes, and the real moochers deal in millions and billions of dollars while the poor and the “welfare cheats” that the right wing is so concerned about deal in sums that don’t amount to a hill of beans.
They dismiss this so brazenly… I really can’t understand anyone anymore, I would be an anarchist…but I enjoy roads. I went green party.
This is so infuriating! But thanks for shining a light on these companies, John. The more we no, the smarter we can be about our choices moving forward.