# GE not paying its fair share. True or false **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 24, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ge-not-paying-its-fair-share-true-or-false/619836 "2012-04-24T20:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ge-not-paying-its-fair-share-true-or-false/619836/21 "2012-04-27T18:49:41Z")
Warren Buffet’s secretary is probably making hundreds of thousands per year, and is a poor example of the ‘99%’. Of course the tax system is rigged for the biggest players. But every one of those tax breaks is someone’s idea of an ‘investment’ in industry. GE benefits from tax credits for windmills and electric cars. It just signed a deal to replace its entire fleet of corporate vehicles with Chevy Volts, getting a huge taxpayer subsidy in the process. Are you ready to cancel all those incentives? GE doesn’t have to advocate for tax breaks that are just for them. It’s perfectly happy to have the tax break be broad and general - so long as it gives them a competitive advantage. The same thing is true of regulations. The reality is that large corporations like big government and lots of regulations - because they have the power to control and direct them at the expense of their competitors. The U.S. tax code gives companies like GE all the breaks, but the small corporations cannot afford buildings full of lawyers and lobbyists, don’t have overseas offices to park their profits in, and don’t operate at a large enough scale to entice lawmakers to give them exemptions for building in their states. These are the corporations who take it on the chin. The tax code is helping to build a corporate environment of very large players while stifling the creative energy of the small entrepreneurial economy. It’s a disgrace. But every one of those tax cuts and regulations has a champion with a rationale. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ge-not-paying-its-fair-share-true-or-false/619836/22 "2012-05-01T18:53:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > You don’t get as big and powerful as GE is by paying your “fair share”. Our tax code is a corporation’s dream come true. While the official tax rate is something like 35%, making it one of the highest in the world, the average tax rate is somewhere south of 10%. They all play the game, and they all get away with it. The average tax rate is closer to 20%. GE does better than most because of GE Capital, which does a lot of leasing (effectively giving your depreciation deductions to your lender for a lower interest rate). > [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Sounds like the beef lies at Rangel’s feet. We shouldn’t allow government officials to play favorites and decide the winners from the losers. Or in his case, trade legislative favors for contributions to schools in his district. Sounds like you can’t admit you were wrong. > [@ralph124c](#): > > Has anybody ever calculated how much resources are wasted by firms like GE, in avoiding taxation? GE’s 2011 tax return ran to 57,000 pages-surely this represents a huge waste of manpower. Granted, GE is following the (immensely complicated) US Tax Code..but would it not be better to have a low, fixed rate tax? Of course we could simplify the tax code but the tax code will NEVER be simple, no matter how much you want it to be. > [@Kearsen](#): > > Will stories like these actually help some folks who are entirely sure that raising the tax burden will effectively help us climb out of debt or will they now agree that closing these loops holes would serve us much better. (I am well aware of how generic all that is) > > You know, so Warren Buffet actually pays more tax than his secretary. You are confusing yourself. GE pays the corporate tax. Buffett pays the individual income tax. We can quite easily reform corporate taxes to close corporate loopholes and end unnecessary favorable treatment and AT THE SAME TIME raise the individual income tax rate and get rid of shit like the carried interest loophole. > [@Kearsen](#): > > I guess the question then becomes one of “how much is enough”? > > It really does seem to be an easy fix (at least in the early stages), I mean who would not want to do it? Its not as simple as it seems to you. > [@JQPublic](#): > > Did GE play by the rules, sure. But.. > The system is designed by lawyers for lawyers and the bottom line is the company with the most lawyers win. And worse yet you have the lawyers who the laws are supposed to affect influencing the lawyers writing the laws. They bury so many loop wholes that the average Joe will never find so he ends up footing the bill. > There should be one deduction. 30K for a single, 60K for couples, 250K for LLCs, 500K for corporations. Anything you make over that you pay. Why would you give LLCs (a tax invisible entity) a special deduction? Why would you have a 60K deduction for couples? It would put a large majority of households outside the income tax system. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Why do LLCs get less favorable treatment than other corporations under your plan? 😕 I don’t think you’re the one that is confused. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ge-not-paying-its-fair-share-true-or-false/619836/23 "2012-05-01T18:56:02Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Warren Buffet’s secretary is probably making hundreds of thousands per year, and is a poor example of the ‘99%’. I’m pretty sure she was quoted at $60-70k a few years ago when the story first broke. But I can’t seem to find the cite now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ge-not-paying-its-fair-share-true-or-false/619836.md?page=1)