The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that in 2020 not only were many U.S. corporations profitable, but 55 of them also paid $0 in federal corporate income taxes.
While most Americans were struggling amid a global pandemic, these corporations were made a combined $40 billion in profits and secured a zero-tax liability using a variety of tax breaks, including a new one enacted in 2020 as part of the CARES Act, reports Common Dreams.
According to the report, these 55 corporations would have paid a collective total of $8.5 billion for the year had they paid that rate on their 2020 income. Instead, they received $3.5 billion in tax rebates.
“We should continue to call on policymakers to address the gaping corporate tax loopholes that make this kind of tax avoidance possible. But in a pandemic year when so many small businesses shuttered and millions of people lost their economic livelihoods, we should be asking bigger questions about a tax system so flawed that it asks next to nothing of profitable corporations that derive great benefit from our economy—in good and bad economic times,” says Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at ITEP and an author of the report.
Archer Daniels Midland, FedEx, Nike and Dish Network are among the 55 companies avoiding income taxes in 2020. You can find the rest here.
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