Got Tickets?

February 14, 2013 09:52 AM | Permalink | Read this report in PDF
Earlier this month, the Facebook Inc. released its first “10-K” annual financial report since going public last year. Hidden in the report’s footnotes is an amazing admission: despite $1.1 billion in U.S. profits in 2012, Facebook did not pay even a dime in federal and state income taxes.

Instead, Facebook says it will receive net tax refunds totaling $429 million.

Facebook’s income tax refunds stem from the company’s use of a single tax break, the tax deductibility of executive stock options. That tax break reduced Facebook’s federal and state income taxes by $1,033 million in 2012, including refunds of earlier years’ taxes of $451 million.[1]

But that’s not all of the stock-option tax breaks that Facebook generated from its initial public offering of stock (IPO). Facebook is also carrying forward another $2.17 billion in additional tax-option tax breaks for use in future years.[2]

So in total Facebook’s current and future tax reductions from the stock options exercised in connection with its IPO will total $3.2 billion. That’s almost exactly what CTJ predicted last year, when Facebook first announced its IPO.[3]

Of course, Facebook is not the only corporation that benefits from stock option tax breaks.

Swinney, we totally agree that just WAY too many tax breaks have and are still being given out to the wrong people. In addition, our tax dollars are being used to provide supplements and tax credits to industries all across our country that just absolutely should NOT be receiving them. That continues because of the massive efforts by lobbyists. It's all about money and campaign help...nothing more. And, like it or not, it's democrats and republicans alike.

Bitch all you want about how the rich white republicans are the problems and how conservative republicans are who is at fault with what you're saying with regard to Facebook. You need to take an honest look at your own party's representatives, my man.

PAY NO TAX
Recent IRS study of wealthiest 1% revealed More than 10,000 households paid no taxes anywhere in the world and more than 35,000 paid no USA income tax. Incomes of $10 million up paid 1% or less in Payroll Tax

MYTH-RICH MOVE DUE TO TAXES
That, at least, is what low-tax advocates want us to think, and on its face, it seems to make sense. But it’s not the case. It turns out that a large majority of people move for far more compelling reasons, like jobs, the cost of housing, family ties or a warmer climate. At least three recent academic studies have demonstrated that the number of people who move for tax reasons is negligible, even among the wealthy.
Cristobal Young, an assistant professor of sociology at Stanford, studied the effects of recent tax increases in New Jersey and California.
“It’s very clear that, over all, modest changes in top tax rates do not affect millionaire migration,” he said this week. “Neither tax increases nor tax cuts on the rich have affected their migration rates.”
The notion of tax flight “is almost entirely bogus — it’s a myth,” said Jon Shure, director of state fiscal studies at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonprofit research group in Washington. “The anecdotal coverage makes it seem like people are leaving in droves because of high taxes. They’re not. There are a lot of low-tax states, and you don’t see millionaires flocking there.”

swinney. Post this stuff on the "Forum" here, will ya? And, when ya do, try to show some links to back up what you're saying. Oh, and presenting some assistant professor doing some kind of study isn't exactly any kind of legitimate proof of anything. We're not falling for that, okay?

You make wild comments and claims here on the front page with nothing to show where it comes from or how it has even an iota of truth. Sure, there are those that have been brainwashed to believe anything presented against the GOP or republicans or the right in our country MUST be correct and will probably buy your line of crap. Intelligent people read it and just shake their heads and wonder who this swinney idiot is.

Try the Forum here on TAP. It's fun. You'll enjoy it.

Wonder if corporate taxes causing business to move to other states is also a myth? Buffalo, N.Y. once was a city full of businesses and unemployment was very low. Today they have almost no industry, it has all moved away and the unemployment is super high. I guess it has nothing to do with their extremely high corporate taxes and could just be that the businesses moved to be closer to more golf courses. If people only understood that we can tax and borrow our way to prosperity. It's sound economics, really it is. These idiots who think taxing millionaires at higher and higher rates will hurt the economy are just stupid. It's a proven fact that poor people are starting more businesses everyday. These lies are just a way for the rich to hold onto their dollars. They are not going to start businesses, and if they do build a business, they want to hire poor people at a non living wage. One day the world will wake up and see that borrowing and taxing will revive the economies of the world. After all nirvana is here on earth and reachable, we have just not had the right people go for it.

Here's the link to prove what I'm saying is true:
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/12/cbo-report-confirms-rich-already-pay-their-fair-share/

According to the CBO which is non-partisan, the top 20% of the earners in our country pay nearly 70% of all of the tax revenue received by the federal government.

Kind of makes you wonder just how much swinner here and the democratic party thinks would be a "fair share" from our more wealthy individuals, doesn't it?

Personally, I'm more concerned about the fact that we have 47% of our country's wage earners paying NO federal income tax.