Reducing Poverty One Corporation at a Time

Taxes pay for services. Services support families struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps we should invite Senator Bernie Sanders to join our Task Force--he seems to get it.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent allied with Democrats, on Sunday released a list of ten big profitable U.S. companies paying little or no taxes. Sanders wants to close the loopholes that make this tax avoidance legal. Some people call the income tax system with generous loopholes for big companies corporate welfare or corporate entitlements.

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

The Rainy Day is Here--Use the Umbrella

HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE members need to hear your thoughts about how to handle TANF Reserve funds. Please contact any or all of them and let them know when money is to be reserved or when it is supposed to be spent. If you can join us next week, following are the details:

Bill SB11-124 - HODGE / GEROU Transfers Of County TANF Reserves

Wednesday, April 6 2011 Finance
1:30 p.m. Room LSB-A (1) in house calendar.

House Committee Members: Representative DelGrosso, Chairman; Representative Swerdfeger, Vice-Chairman; Acree, Beezley, Conti, Duran, Hullinghorst, Joshi, Kagan, Kefalas, Labuda, Pabon, Swalm

Free webinar-Supplemental Poverty Measure

You are invited to a groundbreaking event on measuring poverty reduction sponsored by the Center for American Progress. In partnership with the Half in Ten Campaign, the Network is hosting an event addressing the impact of the new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) and how to measure the effectiveness of poverty reduction programs.

Representative McDermott (D-WA) will open the program with a keynote address and the following discussion will focus on how we can work together to develop shared anti-poverty goals that are inclusive of the most vulnerable sectors of society.

View a live webstreaming of the event by clicking here Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 8:00 am MST.

Counties bear witness to Recession

Colorado counties, after living with years of historic funding reserves from the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) block grant, face increasing challenges from an unprecedented number of families seeking financial relief. In Fremont County this may mean the end of the program's community services and in Pitkin County it may mean an ask from taxpayers. Where do you side?

More on Fremont County “TANF” Community Grant Funds Cut

and from Aspen.