http://www.marketwatch.com/story/big...ies-2011-11-03

The article addresses a portion of the Fortune 500....it does not address the non US companies located here in America that have so many incentives they also pay no taxes.

This problem which has been around for years (many more than 8 for those who only seem to focus on the last 8) is perhaps the only positive Obama reflects toward business by doing business as usual in Washington which translates to doing nothing about the known abuse!!!

btk

11% of the Fortune 500 companies haven't paid a dime in taxes for three years. And 28% of the U.S. largest companies have avoided paying any taxes in at least one of the last three years.

The mantra that we continue to hear from the far right...not everyone mind you, just the most ideologically conservative...is that taxing our job creators would be economically destructive. The same argument is made for increasing the taxes on the top percent or so of the wealthiest Americans.

Yet with this kind of a tax code and tax rates, our real unemployment rate is well into the teens, if we count all the people who are long-term unemployed and have given up. And the distribution of wealth in the country is noticeably tilted so that the income of the richest Americans keeps rising at a rate that is a significant multiple of the bottom 80% of so of the country. We have become a country of haves and have nots and the have nots are a growing part of the population. At the same time our government keeps spending at a rate that wouldn't be sustainable, even in a strong and growing economy.

Yet, the most fiscally conservative among us continue to argue that modifying the tax code and tax rates, if it produces even one additional dollar in revenue to the government is a bad thing. Their position is so entrenched that they won't even enter into a negotiation on significant spending cuts if a revenue increase is part of the deal.

All I can say is...Greece, here we come!

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

11% of the Fortune 500 companies haven't paid a dime in taxes for three years. And 28% of the U.S. largest companies have avoided paying any taxes in at least one of the last three years.

The mantra that we continue to hear from the far right...not everyone mind you, just the most ideologically conservative...is that taxing our job creators would be economically destructive.......

Yet, the most fiscally conservative among us continue to argue that modifying the tax code and tax rates, if it produces even one additional dollar in revenue to the government is a bad thing. Their position is so entrenched that they won't even enter into a negotiation on significant spending cuts if a revenue increase is part of the deal......

The booming interest in Cain's and Perry's FLAT TAX plans that would abolish and replace the current tax code MESS proves that those "entrenched" in liking the current federal tax structure are being quickly outnumbered.

Every day, more people are "getting it" that it's the TAX CODE that permits all these corporations to be exempt from paying the taxes that they should pay, and it's the tax code and all its loopholes are the source for all the lobbying corruption.

Of course the proposed flat tax plans would have to be studied, analyzed and have details worked out by Congress and the White House. It's not going to be just a decree by the President on Jan. 21, 2013!!

The only thing certain in all this is that the current Congress and White House want it the way it is now.....if they didn't have anything to gain from the current tax system, they'd have changed it already!!!!

That "gain" is their political power, not the general welfare of our citizenry.

That's why we have to get rid of them and replace them in Nov. 2012!!!!

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

Yet, the most fiscally conservative among us continue to argue that modifying the tax code and tax rates, if it produces even one additional dollar in revenue to the government is a bad thing. Their position is so entrenched that they won't even enter into a negotiation on significant spending cuts if a revenue increase is part of the deal.

All I can say is...Greece, here we come!

Unfortunately you are correct. I think the problem is that over the decades there has been many compromises and they all lead to more government spending. In addition I think we can all agree that some of the spending is not as beneficial as we would like. Thus the conservatives are saying that the past practice of agreeing to increased spending as part of a compromise has to stop as it did not solve the problems in the past.

I think the tax system has to be revised to raise revenue and not try and influence our behavior in other areas. If our behavior has to be modified by the government, it should be done outside of the tax code.

Problem is the government cuts taxes on the things they want us to do and increases taxes on what they do not want us to do. Then we all complain that taxes are not fair.