Commentators like Thom Hartmann and Politicians like Barrack Obama play people like fools on this issue, persuading them with sarcasm and mis-information that the American business world is evil.
My intent with this blog to inoculate you with a little truth so you won't have to cower in fear, unsure of your conservative position. You'll recognize a lie when you hear it and will be able to boldly declare the truth to others. It is for that reason I ask you watch this video and then read the rest of my blog.
Convinced? Thom Hartmann certainly seemed convinced. Mitt Romney, the Supreme Court, nasty corporations, almost everybody is against poor little Thommy. Everyone except, of course, the 200+ air-heads who commented on his video.
Here is a very disturbing fact; all of the corporations he mentioned pay taxes - lots of taxes. I know, not because I'm smart, but because I took the time to look them up. Here is what I found. Over a ten year period these particular corporations paid an average of 46.42% per year! Really.
Any public corporation is required by law to open their books for all to scrutinize and therefore, anyone (including you) can look for themselves and see who is lying - Thommy or me. I don't mind sharing my source, Standard & Poor's stock reports. I have no idea where Hartmann got his information.
You can rely on Standard & Poor's data being correct because their entire business model relies on accurate information. This is the same Standard and Poor's that downgraded U.S. bonds from triple A to Double A+ after the President and Congress demonstrated the inability to enact sound fiscal policy last August. I and many other investors stake our savings on the truthfulness of their data.
Presented below is the actual figures for 2010 (the year Hartmann refers) and a ten year period starting in 2002 and ends in 2011. Two exception: First, NewsCorp's date for 2012 is already published so their ten year period is from 2003 to 2012. And second, Bank of America was the only corporation that paid zero taxes in 2010 as Hartmann claimed however, in 2011, the following year, BAC paid 727% of it's income in taxes. That would make the ten year average annual taxes for BAC 185.41% and the 10 Yr. Ave. for the group would actually be 67%. Not wanting to be a technocrat and go through the rigors of explaining everything that happened, I eliminated that year and only used a nine year average for BAC. But even with that the average these corporations paid in taxes was 46.42%.
2010
|
10 Yr. Ave
|
|
General Electric GE
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7.39
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29.22%
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Bank of America BAC
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0
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22.04%
|
Exon Mobil XOM
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40.7
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80.18%
|
Boeing BA
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26.5
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44.40%
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Citigroup C
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16.9
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47.70%
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Wells Fargo WFC
|
33.4
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63.58%
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Verizon VZ
|
19.4
|
38.10%
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NewsCorp (Fox) NWSA
|
20.4
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46.16%
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10 Yr. Tax Ave.
|
46.42%
|
That's quite a difference isn't it? Is Thom Hartmann lying or is he just another air-head projecting his beliefs above the truth? I honestly don't know. But now, at least you know Corporations do not get a free ride and pay a higher percentage of their gross income in taxes than most people.
