AEP paid no state income tax — anywhere — in 2008-09-10
We love that wonderful electric provider American Electric Power so much that it earned $5.8 billion on its monopoly service in the past three years.
But AEP doesn’t love to pay state corporate income taxes. No sir. It hasn’t paid of dime of them in the past three years. Not in Virginia or anywhere else.
But AEP got $97 million in refunds in that time frame.
(Perhaps its subsidiaries pay, that’s unclear).
The power conglomerate is near the top of the list in a new report out from Citizens for Tax Justice. The group found that 265 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no state taxes anywhere in at least one of the past three years. And some of them, like AEP, didn’t pay in any of the three years.
What are some of the others, and how many of the past three years did they avoid paying state income taxes, according to the report? Below are some that may be familiar to Virginians:
DuPont (3 years); Corning (2); Comcast (1); Wells Fargo (1), J.C. Penney (1); R.R. Donnelly (1); Verizon (1); General Electric (1); Campbell’s Soup (1).
You’ll want to download and read the whole report, which gives the skinny on the tricks these companies play to avoid paying taxes. There’s some pretty slick stuff in there.
December 8, 2011 - 12:00 PM
You can add Carilion to that list(excluding the for profit subcompanies). In fact , they pay no local or federal taxes either. But somehow they came up with 2.1 million to pay Ed Murphy.
Please spare me the nauseating arguement that they are “not for profit.”
#1 Thank goodness we finally got terps back on the topic of Carilion.
Carilion’s not a monopoly. It’s also a non-profit. It’s completely different from AEP.
I’m so happy to hear your back on your Carilion Hater Soap Box Terps!
From page 18 onwards of the report-
State Income Taxes for 265 Major Corporations, 2008–2010
Profit; Tax; Tax rate ($-millions)
Advance Auto Parts
2010: 557; 18; 3.2%
2009: 432; 7; 1.6%
2008: 381; 15; 3.9%
All three years: 1,369; 39; 2.9%
American Electric Power
2010: 1,849; –20; –1.1%
2009: 1,938; –76; –3.9%
2008: 2,015; –1; –0.0%
All three years: 5,802; –97; –1.7%
Norfolk Southern
2010: 2,367; 61; 2.6%
2009: 1,622; 8; 0.5%
2008: 2,750; 74; 2.7%
All three years: 6,739; 144; 2.1%
Tax rates in the single digits and below. Pretty nice, isn’t it? I wish my tax rate was two-point-something-percent. If anyone says U.S. corporations are “overtaxed,” they’re full of it.
I am going to agree with Terps (for once), that whole “non-profit” scam is getting old. For far too many companies, it just means ‘we can rip you off, make billions and not pay taxes and be responsible to anyone’.
terps,
I agree. Carilion is the most profitable non-profit I’ve ever heard of.
This is criminal It’s going to take me awhile to process how in the hell in these United States we have let things get so far out of whack.
This is mucked up.
Really Jack. Guess you’re not familiar with the Catholic Church.
Somehow this does not surprise me, however it still angers me. Why are the Republicans still arguing that high taxes kill jobs? The argument may hold true for truly small business (mom and pop outfits), but it surely does not apply to large corporations.
Terps & Jack If we are gonna start listing non-profit operations that aren’t pay taxes I can think of more than a few churches occupying prime real estate around town that would be nice to collect taxes from.
So if you want to get rid of nonprofit exemptions….churches, not hospitals, would be the gold mine.
Corporations do not pay income taxes. They only collect them from their customers through higher prices.
Is that what you want Dan? AEP customers paying higher prices?
That seems to contradict positions you have taken in the past.
Carilion provided something on the order of $155 million in benefits to the area last year. And its either losing or barely making money now.
Oops, now that I’ve defended Carilion no doubt VRWC or pammala will show up to accuse me of being a Carilion employee and wasting Carilion time.
BobH, thank you for not staying away from this humble blog.
“Why are the Republicans still arguing that high taxes kill jobs?”
Google “the big lie.”
High taxes are a job killer second only to clean air.
BobH, this might come as a shock but companies cover ALL their expenses through their income from clients. Including gross ridiculous bonuses to semi-competent management whose only talent is in firing American workers.
My two-year challenge still stands. And is still as yet unanswered:
Name one prosperous socialist country in the history of the world.
My other question is: Were Americans dying in greater numbers in the 1960s as compared to today because of dirty air and water in the 1960s before EPA and Clean Air Act? No? Nobody has evidence they were? So then why do we need this expensive regulatory crap? Disband the whole shooting match. Put these tree-hugging bastards out of a job for good. Send them to the OWS dirtbaggers.
Bob H just can’t quit you…
Bob H is right. Corporations do not pay salaries. They only collect them from their customers through higher prices. Corporations do not purchase goods, equipment and supplies. They only collect them from their customers through higher prices. Corporations do not pay real estate or personal property taxes. They only collect them from their customers through higher prices. Corporations do not pay for business licenses, health insurance, water, sewer, trash pick up, electricity, gas, fuel or any other expense. They only collect them from their customers through higher prices. I cannot imagine how they stay in business. End it all, save America!
[Steve C says:
Bob H just can’t quit you…
Posted on December 8th, 2011]
THAT’S funny right there, I don’t care who ya’ are!
[Steve C says:
Bob H just can’t quit you…
Posted on December 8th, 2011]
THAT’S funny right there, I don’t care who ya’ are!
3-methoxy-4-hydroxy mandelic acid is one metabolite of adrenaline that shows up in urine.
I think maybe LC should give BobH a urine test for that, to see if he’s reading my blog.
Go to opensecrets.org and look at all that money those corporations give politicians every year. Not shocking at all.
I think if you pee tested Bob H, you’d find mostly traces of Geritol and Ensure.
As long as we’re running tests, could you pull a DNA sample? I’m dying to figure out what gene sequence is responsible for claiming “But it’s not a metro Colum!”
Some people find humor in very odd things. I don’t believe I ever said I was quitting this Blog. I certainly don’t read it or comment on it daily/hourly like some do. I happened by yesterday, I don’t think I had even looked atthis Blog since last month. You guys track it (apparently) a great deal more than I do.
Dan,
I don’t believe you answered the question I asked in my post. Why the obfuscation?
#24 Oh please, Bob H, you’ve said more than once you were never coming back to this blog. Why do you think it gets mentioned every time you comment? We don’t make the same comment to other people who rarely show up because none of them said they weren’t coming back.
Keep coming back.