Allentown Morning Call: Fortune 500 company PPL not only paid no federal taxes last year, it got a $19 million rebate; it says it has invested those savings

Sixty of America’s Fortune 500 corporations paid nothing — or got refunds — for 2018, according to a report released last month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, described as a left-leaning think tank by the Washington Post and New York Times.

In PPL’s case, the institute said the company received its refund based on $1.1 billion of U.S. income, for an effective tax rate of minus 2%. Combined, the 60 companies got a rebate of $4.3 billion on $79 billion in pretax income, according to the institute.

Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow with the institute, said companies’ receiving favorable tax results means a substantial loss of federal revenue.

“Certainly, in the aggregate, this tax avoidance is harmful to taxpayers and harmful to the nation,” Gardner said. “With ongoing government shortfalls, this makes it difficult to fund services we all want to see funded.” Read more