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General Electric Tax Rate 2.3 Percent Over Decade, Report Finds
Posted: 02/27/12 07:26 PM ET  |  Updated: 02/27/12 11:44 PM ET


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Caption: General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt seen during a discussion in Washington. D.C. earlier this month. An analysis of GE's taxes shows that the company paid just 2.3 percent of its profits in federal income tax over the past 10 years.
General Electric again finds itself the focus of a politically-charged battle over corporate taxes.

A new analysis of the mega-corporation's tax filings shows that 2.3 percent of GE's pre-tax profits have gone to the federal government since 2002. That bears repeating: GE has paid an average tax rate of just 2.3 percent over the past decade, according to an analysis by the non-profit advocacy group Center for Tax Justice.

If you'll think back to your high school math classes, you'll recall that 2.3 percent is less than 35 percent. That means GE is paying well below the top marginal corporate tax rate of 35 percent -- the same tax rate that business leaders, politicians and conservative commentators have repeatedly deplored as high enough to impede economic growth.

The analysis adds ups GE's profit in the years since 2002, which come to more than $81 billion, and sets it against the company's tax history over the same period.

In some years, GE paid taxes. In other years, not so much. For 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2010, according to the report, GE didn't pay a cent in federal income taxes, and indeed got substantial tax refunds back from the government. GE paid taxes at a rate of 11.3 percent in 2011. Never since 2002 did GE pay taxes at the official 35 percent rate.

GE strongly disputed the study's findings. In an email to The Huffington Post, Andrew Williams, a company spokesman, said Citizens for Tax Justice is "an interest group with a clear agenda and the reports they file are biased and inaccurate." GE actually paid a 25 percent tax rate in 2011 in the U.S. and a "global rate" of 29 percent -- up from 7 percent in 2010, according to Williams.

"The rate is below 35 percent because of lower tax rates on foreign earnings, and tax credits and deductions for investments that support U.S. economic growth and jobs," Williams said........................>>>>....................>>>>........................http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/general-electric-tax-rate_n_1305196.html?1330388806