No one likes paying taxes. But most of us suck it up and do so every year, which helps pay for everything from new roads and bridges to sending veterans to college. Businesses operating here, both those owned by U.S. citizens and those that are foreign-owned, are also expected to pay their fair share. But according to a new report by Congress’s watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), most corporations haven’t paid taxes in recent years. In fact, more than half of all U.S.-owned corporations, and about 70 percent of all foreign-owned corporations paid no income taxes in at least one of the years covered by the GAO analysis. Apparently you don’t even have to operate from the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes.
Meanwhile, we’re facing a record-setting deficit, a weak dollar, and failing Medicare and Social Security trust funds. And Congress’s response to the sputtering economy was to send checks to taxpayers that are written on an empty bank account. And now this report – nearly 2 million companies operating in the U.S., making hundreds of millions of dollars in sales, and paying no taxes.
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