Trucking-related companies make PIRG’s ‘Dirty Thirty’ list

[Mike]

A national consumer advocacy group has published its “Dirty Thirty” list of companies that received more money in tax breaks than they paid in federal income taxes – and five of the companies on that list are involved in the trucking industry.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, or PIRG, studied the profits, taxes paid, tax subsidies, lobbying expenses and tax shelters for dozens of large corporations from 2008 through 2010. PIRG’s report it titled “Representation Without Taxation: Fortune 500 Companies That Spend Big on Lobbying and Avoid Taxes.”

While companies like Pepco Holdings and General Electric topped the list of companies that effectively had “negative tax rates,” truck manufacturer Paccar also made the list as did Con-way, Ryder Systems, Navistar International and FedEx.

“Having a negative tax rate means that these companies were able to game our tax system and our tax code to the point that on Tax Day, instead of paying taxes on the profit that they made they got money back from the federal government,” PIRG federal tax and budget associate Dan Smith told “Land Line Now” on Sirius XM.

Smith points out that what the companies did to grow their profits while avoiding the tax man is legal under the current code.

“We’re just trying to call attention to the need to end some of these tax games that these companies are able to play, to call attention to one area of policy in corporate taxation where companies have been especially able to use their influence to game the system in their favor,” he said.

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[DubbleD]

It's all about Interpretation of the code and who has the strongest argument. Corporations can and do present sound argument forcing the I.R.S. into countless man-hours attempting to discredit those same arguments. Inevitably the chief revenuer must determine which interpretations to defend and which interpretations to allow.

In the end... who ever has the most money to throw at something wins.