Will Large U.S. Transnational Corporations Finally Carry Their Share Of The Weight In The U.S.? Sanders Fair Tax Amendment Passes The Senate budget committee. Our 2nd Follow Up On Tax Day Musings.

In “Tax Day Musings And The “Tea Party“, I cited ExxonMobil and General Electric as being our modern day East India Tea Companies for not paying federal income taxes in 2009. Also cited was the GAO report that showed 2/3rds of U.S. corporations did not pay any from 1998-2005. Well it seems Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has had enough and added an amendment to the budget for tax fairness in this time when the deficit has further been aggravated in the last economic downturn. It has passed committee. His office explains,

With the national debt approaching $13 trillion and a record-breaking federal deficit, the Senate budget committee on Thursday approved an amendment that tells Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and other large, profitable corporations that paid no federal income taxes last year that it is time for them to start paying their fair share. The amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders would enact a windfall profits tax on large corporations that pay no federal income taxes. There are many of them. One out of every four large corporations in the United States paid no federal income taxes in 2005 on revenue of $1.1 trillion, the Government Accountability Office reported. From 1998 to 2005, two out of every three corporations in the United States paid no federal income taxes according, according to the report.

Forbes magazine reported that Exxon Mobil was able to avoid paying taxes “with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi.” In fact, the most profitable corporation in the history of the world reported to the SEC that not only did it avoid paying federal income taxes it actually received a $46 million refund from the IRS. That is the same big oil company that had enough money to provide a $398 million retirement package to its outgoing CEO Lee Raymond just a few years ago. The same company is making its profits by gouging consumers at the pump by charging higher and higher prices for gasoline even when the demand is low and supply is high. That has got to stop.

Exxon is not alone. Forbes also reported that Bank of America paid no federal income taxes in 2009 and actually received a $1.9 billion tax refund although it reported a profit of $4.4 billion. That is the same Bank of America that had to be bailed out by American taxpayers in 2008.

Godspeed Senator.