NYT: The Muddled Road to Overhauling Corporate Taxes
media mentionBy Patricia Cohen
Every loophole has its lover.
That’s why, despite the furor that has erupted over American companies adopting foreign headquarters to reduce their taxes, it is proving so difficult to fix a corporate tax system that most everyone agrees is badly broken.
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According to a study of scores of Fortune 500 companies released this year by Mr. McIntyre’s group and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the average tax rate from 2008 to 2012 on utility, gas and electric companies was 2.8 percent. The rate for the industrial machinery sector was 4.3 percent, while the telecommunications industry averaged 9.8 percent. For the aerospace and military industry, it was 19.7 percent. Dozens of corporations including Verizon, Boeing and Corning paid the government absolutely nothing.