Why Big Corporations Get Special Tax Breaks and You Don’t

Jim Hightower's Lowdown

Free Market ideologues fabricate some of the most preposterous yarns trying to justify their assertion of corporate greed over public need.

Consider their far-fetched of Laissez-fairyland tale that by allowing corporate giants to dodge the billions of tax dollars they owe to our country, the top executives of those corporations will plow that money into new jobs, products, and services for the Common Good. The ideologues assure us innocents that this is the “magic of the marketplace.”

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But remember: Magicians don’t perform magic – they perform illusions. In this case, since the law does not require that such tax windfalls be invested for the public good, they aren’t. Instead, the corporate barons simply pocket the money.

A diligent watchdog group, Institute for Policy Studies, recently documented this by analyzing financial data of 35 enormously profitable giants, including Tesla, T-Mobile, and Duke Energy. Over a four-year period, these 35 lavished pay of $9.5 billion on their honchos. Even for giants, that’s an extravagant payout. Where’d the money come from? Tax dodging. Combined, these outfits paid zero in federal taxes, and even extracted nearly $2 billion in refunds.

To rationalize this handout, free market ideologues clam that corporations are just like ordinary taxpayers, merely taking a few legal deductions to lower their tax bill. But wait – tax laws aren’t handed down on stone tablets, applying equally to everyone. When’s the last time Congress asked you to help write one law? Instead, America’s tax code is an arcane work of gobbledygook literally written in back rooms by corporate lobbyists – which is why powerful corporations get special breaks to evade taxes… and you don’t.

To see through such corporate scams and help end this corruption, connect with Institute for Policy Studies: ips-dc.org.

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