But . - anon

GE property taxes - sm

That's not entirely true. And this is just one of many, many GE property tax breaks. The tax system has been broken for years.

GE receiving $8.8M in funds to build Dayton research facility

Company plans $51M research facility on UD land

By Lucas Sullivan, Staff Writer Updated 10:59 PM Wednesday, April 13, 2011

DAYTON — General Electric is receiving $8.8 million in public funds, including $1.2 million from Montgomery County and the city of Dayton, to build its $51 million research facility at the corner of Patterson Boulevard and River Park Drive. 

The corporation, one of the nation’s largest, will break ground today on the Electrical Power Integrated Systems Research and Development Center, or EPISCenter. The center could be in operation by the end of 2012. 

In addition to the public funds, GE will avoid paying property taxes or for the building itself because of a 15-year land-lease agreement with Dayton’s economic development nonprofit, CityWide Development, and the University of Dayton, which owns the $2.6 million lot. 

CityWide will own the building and is also helping GE secure new market tax credits worth about $6 million, said CityWide President Steve Budd. 

The cash incentives were part of the deal to lure GE to the site. Dayton and county officials say the incentives are not unusual for such economic development projects when governments are in competition for a project. 

“The trade-off is the growth in our core city and the vitality of the region,” said Deborah Feldman, the county’s administrator. “The investment being made by the company far outweighs our investment, and this was a competitive project with other areas so we feel this was necessary.” 

The deal with GE was brokered before it became public that the company used tax breaks to avoid paying any federal taxes on its $5.1 billion in U.S. profits last year. In fact, GE received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion on its 2010 federal filing. 

GE officials blasted a recent New York Times story about how corporations reduce their tax burdens, saying it implied the company received a refund and did not account for its deductible capital losses. In an email Wednesday, GE said the company paid about $1 billion in 2010 in local, state and federal taxes. 

The city and county agreed to the tax incentives within the past week. The $1.2 million comes on top of the state’s $7.6 million contribution from Third Frontier funds. GE will use the $1.2 million incentive mostly to pay the lease, said Mark Grafton, EPISCenter program manager for GE. The Third Frontier money will be paid through UD and will be used to operate the center, he said. 

The county is giving $500,000 from a $1 million fund for “strategic economic initiatives” established last year and another $500,000 in Economic Development/Government Equity (ED/GE) grant money. The city is giving $200,000 from its development fund. 

The facility will be staffed initially with 10 to 15 scientists and engineers who will focus on developing power systems for aircraft, ships, automobiles and other markets. If successful, GE officials said more than 200 jobs could be added during several years, which could bring additional income tax revenue to the city. 

Tax policy experts said GE is doing nothing illegal by finding loopholes to reduce its tax burden. They said it’s up to the federal government to close those loopholes. 

President Obama has vowed to do just that as federal, state and local governments grapple with huge budget deficits, but has received criticism for naming GE’s chief executive to a council formed to address the issue. 

Ohio is grappling with a $7.7 billion deficit. Republican Gov. John Kasich has vowed he will not raise taxes to solve the problem, and he hopes to lessen the tax burden for business owners. 

It is unclear what GE, which has a large presence in the state, pays in local and state taxes. The numbers are not public record, according to the state Department of Taxation. 

“In 2005, the Ohio General Assembly passed a major tax cut for businesses and individuals that was supposed to cause our tax system to reduce the need for these incentives,” said Zach Schiller, a researcher for the liberal think tank Policy Matters Ohio. “It’s always unclear what the necessity was for these incentives, so one would hope the reasons (for the award) were studied. 

“The real question is how much in (state) Commercial Activity Tax is GE paying? Are they exempt from that?” 

GE officials said they are not exempt from the CAT tax, the state’s tax on businesses’ gross receipts. 

“(GE) paid about $1 billion in 2010 in other state, local and federal taxes in the U.S.,” company officials
wrote in an email Wednesday. “The U.S. tax system is old, complex and uncompetitive. The purpose of the tax code should be that everyone pays their fair share, including GE. But it should also help to promote jobs and competitiveness. It does the opposite today.” 

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2494 or lsullivan@Dayton
DailyNews.com.

"...Just not income tax" - What?

“GE has about 150,000 employees in the US on which they pay Social Security taxes, unemployment taxes, and workmen's comp taxes.” 
According to GE’s Careers website, they have 300,000 employees worldwide, so a more accurate statement is they only pay SS, UI and WC taxes on only half of their workforce.  Not only does this represent lost tax revenues paid by GE as suggested above, but also loss of the same income, property and sales taxes not being paid by those whose jobs have been outsourced, to say nothing of lowering consumer sales of homes, food and commodities and raising unemployment rates.   

"They also own property in the United States on which they pay property taxes.  They also purchase materials on which they pay sales tax.”   …that have been nicely offset by the $4.3 billion in tax credits they received.  They enjoy certain tax exemptions, incentives, credits, loopholes and shelters not available to individual taxpayers that help reduce these amounts. 

”So in fact, they do pay taxes, just not income tax. So to say they pay no taxes is incorrect.”  …but to say they DO NOT PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE is 100% correct.   Unbelievable to me that anyone would be OK with GE “just not paying income tax.” 

”Not to mention, the ITEP is not basing their data on any actual verifiable figures. They are just guesses based on nothing.“   Hold your horses, cowboy.  No reason to confine the discussion to federal taxes.  Here is one example of what looks like hard data with citations on state and local taxes.  Keep in mind that any one or all of the tax categories are likely to be grossly UNDER-reported.

Estimates of the State and Local Taxes Paid by Unauthorized Immigrant Households

Tax Day is an appropriate time to underscore the often-overlooked fact that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes.  The unauthorized, like everyone else in the United States, pay sales taxes.  They also pay property taxes—even if they rent.  At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes.  Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments.  The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants. These households may include members who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.  Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes.  That included $1.2 billion in personal income taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes.  The states receiving the most tax revenue from households headed by unauthorized immigrants were California ($2.7 billion), Texas ($1.6 billion), Florida ($806.8 million), New York ($662.4 million), and Illinois ($499.2 million) {See Figure 1 and Table 1}.  These figures should be kept in mind as politicians and commentators continue with the seemingly endless debate over what to do with unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States.  In spite of the fact that they lack legal status, these immigrants—and their family members—are adding value to the U.S. economy; not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.

 Methodology

These estimates are based on a model developed by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).  The ITEP methodology relies on three pieces of data: 1) an estimate of each state’s unauthorized population; 2) the average family income for unauthorized immigrants; and 3) state-specific tax payments.  Of course, it is difficult to know precisely how much these families pay in taxes, because the spending and income behavior of these families is not as well documented as is the case for U.S. citizens.  But these estimates represent a sensible best approximation of the taxes these families likely pay.

Estimates of each state’s unauthorized population are from the Pew Hispanic Center and based on 2010 Census data.  There were an estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. as of 2010.  Pew has also estimated the unauthorized population for each state.  Pew has found that unauthorized immigrants are likely to be less educated than native-born U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, and they tend to work in low-wage jobs.  Thus the average family income of the unauthorized population is lower than the average family income for U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.  The average income of a household headed by an unauthorized immigrant is estimated to be $36,000; 10 percent of which goes towards remittances to family members in countries of origin.

ITEP maintains detailed tax information for each state, and models how tax structures affect different income groups in each state.  ITEP has estimated the amount of sales, income, and property tax the average unauthorized family pays. 

This link has a graph and table with lots of dollar amounts showing the top ten states which benefit the most from these revenues.  There is more where this comes from. 

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/unauthorized-immigrants-pay-taxes-too

You are reducing a very complicated economic system into a very simplified and useless rhetoric.  A good example of useless rhetoric would be trying to convince anyone that it is okay, fine and dandy, and hunky-dory for a multi-billion collar corporation to pay ZERO income tax, then turn around and say illegal immigrants who paid $11.2 billion in taxes are shirking responsibility.  Tax revenues could potentially double if undocumented immigrants had a path to legalization and were allowed to come out of the closet.    

In the complicated world today, we need intelligence, not mindlessness.  Agreed, so why try to pretend GE (whose profits soared another 77% in the first quarter of 2001) is paying its fair share?  On a final note, of the $14.2 billion in profits, only 35% ($5.1 billion) was made state side, meaning exactly what, oh wise one? 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7490323.html

illegals - sm

Yes let's - sm

Why don't we ask obama that. He is buddy buddy - with GE NM

For starters, only the poster an justify their own bias, - but

Pubs don't want to raise taxes on - ANYONE. NM

taxes - shoo-shoo

Allowing what were meant to be temporary tax cuts - to expire

Hear, Hear!! - NM

Why not include how much is spent yearly - on illegal aliens