While many Americans dread filling out their income tax returns every year when tax season comes around, there are many corporations who are avoiding doing so all together. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont compiled a list of the top ten worst corporate income tax avoiders.
The top ten corporations Sanders lists in order are “Exxon Mobile, Bank of America, General Electric, Chevron, Boeing, Valero, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Conoco Phillips, and Carnival Cruise Lines”. With the current debt crisis America is facing, everyone needs to be doing their part in paying their taxes to help cut down our national debt, so that necessary programs do not loose funding. The richest Americans and top money making corporations are the ones who are currently avoiding paying income taxes all together, which is not helping to cut down the debt.
Senator Bernie Sanders says “it is grossly unfair for congressional Republicans to propose major cuts to Head Start, Pell Grants, the Social Security Administration, nutrition grants for pregnant low-income women and the Environment Protection Agency while ignoring the reality that some of the most profitable corporations pay nothing or almost nothing in federal income taxes.”
When looking at the worst tax avoiders, some of the companies which made the top of the top ten list were, Exxon Mobile, Bank of America, Boeing and Chevron. Of just these companies they paid little to no income taxes but received over 2 billion dollars in refunds from the IRS this past year. Although this may not seem like a lot of money, if all corporations paid their income taxes perhaps we could start making a dent in the debt crisis instead of adding to it.
Title: The Top Ten Worst Corporate Income Tax Avoiders
Publication: Truthout, April 1, 2011
Author: Bernie Sanders
URL: http://50.17.184.149/sen-bernie-sanders-top-ten-worst-corporate-income-tax-avoiders-video
Faculty Evaluator: Sheila Katz, Sonoma State University
Student Researcher: Chelane Beavers, Sonoma State University