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Friday, April 15, 2011

Twelve Tax-Dodging Corporations Spent $1 Billion To Influence Washington Over The Last Decade

As ThinkProgress has been reporting, while Main Street Americans are having their services gutted and public investment is being slashed, some of the country's most profitable corporations are getting away withpaying little to nothingin taxes.

A new report by Public Campaign examines how these major corporations have influenced Congress to craft a tax code that lets them get away with making so much money and paying so little taxes in return. In its report, "The Artful Dodgers," Public Campaign juxtaposes the limited tax liability of dozen major corporations with the companies' campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures, which amount to more than a billion dollars over the last decade:

EXXON MOBIL:The oil giant that was theworld's most profitable corporationin 2008 has spent $5.7 million in campaign contributions over the last ten years and $138 million in lobbying expenditures. Its federal corporate income tax liabilities for 2009? Absolutely nothing. Not only did it pay nothing, but it also received a tax rebate the same year of $156 million.

CHEVRON:Chevron spent$4.4 millionin campaign contributions and $91 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received a tax refund of $19 million in 2009 while making $10 billion in profits and $324 million in government contracts in 2008.

CONOCOPHILLIPS:The Texas-based gasoline giant spent $2.5 million in campaign contributions and $63 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received "$451 million through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction," a special tax break, between 2007 and 2009, despite $16 billion in profits over the same period of time.

More
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6 comments:

dan said...

You are kidding me. Oil companies? Really?

Who would have thought?

Anonymous said...

You bash only oil companies?
How about GE, who got government bailouts while paying no taxes, and whose CEO is now Obama's best buddy.

Anonymous said...

Limit the amount of donations and take the power away. Simple solution to even the playing field. As usual, the American people are getting the shaft and the liberals are laughing about how stupid we are.

dan said...

I did not mean to leave out any of the "obama buddy" companies, 8:40.

Relax a bit. Just sayin that these guys are evil. You know it, too.

lmclain said...

PLEASE---- quit referring to them as "campaign contributions"....they are BRIBES and this article makes that point crystal clear. If we started calling them bribes, then maybe, just maybe, our thieving representatives would balk at taking so many of them. This government does not in any way represent "we, the people" any more. I guarantee that even if there was a nightly broadcast where Senators sat at a table and wrapped both arms around a 20" stack of hundred dollar bills covering the tabletop, there would STILL be people who would think its just innocuous "campaign contributions"...the deaf, dumb, blind, and completely and utterly stupid sheep. Johns Adams and James Madison are crying in Heaven.

Anonymous said...

Would sure be interesting to know who received all those campaign contributions wouldn't it?