Bangor Daily News: Is Maine Headed for a Consumption Tax?

This under-taxed group includes several large corporations, some tax-exempt nonprofits and more. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy lists Wal-Mart and other giants among companies that avoid state income taxes, typically by allocating the sources of their income among the states by inscrutable, if legal, accounting practices. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy examined 269 profitable Fortune 500 firms over the 2008-12 period. The total amount they paid in state income taxes amounted to less than 3.1 percent of their profits. But the (weighted) average state tax rate was 6.3 percent, meaning that half of their profits escaped taxation. Verizon and Best Buy were among 90 firms that paid zero taxes in at least one of those profitable years. Wal-Mart paid 3.5 percent on average.

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