The largest corporation in America paid precisely zero dollars in taxes to the government last year. Despite making $14.2 billion in profits, General Electric managed to exploit legal loopholes and tax breaks to avoid paying any corporate tax in the U.S., reports David Kocieniewski at The New York Times. In fact, GE was able to claim a tax benefit of $3.2 billion in 2010. GE's extraordinary success at avoiding taxes comes courtesy of an "aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore," says Kocieniewski. Who's to blame for what critics are calling a "travesty"?
Blame General Electric: GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt won high praise for "blasting the greedy culture of big business" as Wall Street burned back in 2009, says Zaid Jilani at ThinkProgress. But he's a part of the problem. GE is "exploiting loopholes in the tax code to shirk its responsibilities" to the American people.
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