Billionaire Leona Helmsley is alleged to have said, “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.” Indeed, this appears to be the mindset grasped by so many mega-corporations in America, of which, when we look at the tax rates as estimated by americanprogress.org, we find that within the Fortune 100 of 2021, there were at least 19 corporations that paid a tax rate well below the federal corporate tax rate of 21%, in which, for instance, Amazon’s effective federal income tax rate was 6.1%, ExxonMobil’s effective federal income tax rate was 2.8%, Bank of America’s effective federal income tax rate was 3.5%, and Ford’s effective federal income tax rate was 1%, to list just a few. This indicates clearly that a significant proportion of America’s biggest and most profitable corporations do not come close to paying the 21% federal corporate tax rate, of which, the less in taxes that these super profitable corporations pay, the more that the citizens of the United States, have to pick up the shortfall in the payment of.
What many people fail to recognize is that our biggest corporations have annual sales in the billions upon billions of dollars, and corresponding profits, year in and year out, also in the billions upon billions of dollars, and these entities that have an abundance of money are the very same that can easily afford to hire the best tax attorneys, the best CPAs, the best lobbyists, of which when combined serve to do everything possible to reduce their tax footprint, at the direct expense of the American people.
Far too many corporations, mouth the words, that they pay all the taxes that they legally owe, which may or may not be true. What is true, though, is that many of these same corporations are not good servants to the government that permits them to exist and to persist, in the first place, because these same corporations are not paying even close to the taxation rate that they truly owe to this nation, and because these superrich corporations don’t pay their fair share, the burden of picking up the slack on taxes not collected, falls upon the aching shoulders of the America public, instead.
When it comes to taxation, it really isn’t all that complicated, as to what this governance should or should not do, because as much as we might decry or even admire the individual billionaires that this country has -- corporations, routinely make profits in the billions upon billions of dollars each year, signifying that for those in the taxation business, it is corporations, above all, that should be focused upon, because they are the ones with the wealth of money that needs to be more effectively taxed. To believe, somehow, that corporations should be permitted to avail themselves of all sorts of pathways to circumvent paying their fair taxes, is fundamentally wrong, for these corporations are not only well positioned to pay their fair share but need to pay their fair share, especially for the privilege that has permitted them, as artificial creations of the state, to have vibrancy, in the first place. This signifies that until such a time as the “big boys” pay their fair share in taxes, the “little people,” shouldn’t have to pay a dime.