Corporate tax loopholes at fault for unfair burden: #tellusatoday

Twenty-seven companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 reported no income tax expense last year, according to a Paste BN analysis. Letter to the editor:

Corporate taxes are like a double tax on the consumer who always pays for them in the cost of the products and services a company sells.

Imagine our country without corporate taxes. The massive movement of businesses back to the United States from abroad would raise the economy and thus the tax base, not to mention save money by putting workers back to work who also would pay taxes instead of receiving government assistance.

Rick Blackburn; Cincinnati

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

These companies had valid reasons for owing no taxes. Tax credits for prior losses or income from outside the U.S., and left invested there (in the other country), seem legitimate.

— Sandy Finkelberg

Wouldn’t it be nice if the struggling middle class and poor didn’t have to pay taxes? If these findings aren’t clear evidence of the corporate takeover of government, I don’t know what would be.

— Patrizio Cavaliere

Simple solution: Abolish corporate taxes and replace them with import tariffs. Remove the tax burden, and corporations would flock here. Enact import tariffs, and corporations would move manufacturing here to avoid them.

— Tony Mathis

Tell me one person who goes out of his way to pay more taxes, or someone who sees something in the tax code that could save him money yet chooses to ignore it simply because he wants the federal government to have a bigger slice of the pie.

— Aaron Bowen

Talk about crony capitalism. Putting these giveaways into law is what our so-called representatives are doing when no one is looking.

— Edward Ayres

We asked what our followers thought about some businesses finding ways to avoid paying taxes. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

They use infrastructure provided by taxpayers but don’t have skin in the game. It’s disgusting and unpatriotic.

— @Larry_UMN

How much did their employees pay in taxes? They wouldn’t be able to earn otherwise. It’s not bad if corporations create jobs.

— @AutobahnFan

Eliminate tax loopholes and you don’t have to raise taxes. How do those companies avoid taxes with that much money?

— @WindyCityCritic

Perfect example why tax code must be scrapped. Tax code is rigged to favor corporations, wealthy. Need flat tax, no deductions.

— @Adri64307529

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday.