WNPR: Hold On: Why Don’t Corporations in Connecticut Pay (More) Tax?
media mentionMatt Gardner is director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, and he explained it this way: “If you think it’s wrong for companies to be able to shift their profits freely from state to state, on paper, without actually moving employees, without actually moving production, then this reform is a no-brainer,” he told WNPR.
Gardner points out that in a budget crunch such as Connecticut is facing, offering a tax break to corporations simply shifts the burden elsewhere, usually onto middle income earners, a decision which may also have significant economic development implications for the state.
“You look at a company like General Electric, which in 2014 earned $4.2 billion in U.S. profits, and didn’t pay a dime of state income taxes on those profits. How much lower can state taxes go for these guys?” said Gardner. “It seems odd that a company that has been so spectacularly successful in avoiding state corporate taxes simply can’t bear to pay a little bit.”