tax

With Help From Trump-GOP Law, At Least 88 Big US Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Income Tax Last Year

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Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) is congratulated by his fellow Republicans after signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during an enrollment ceremony in the Rayburn Room at the US Capitol on July 3, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The companies avoided more than $26.7 billion in income taxes last year, enough to give free school lunches to every child in America.

Dozens of America’s most profitable corporations avoided paying any federal income taxes in 2025, according to an analysis out on Tuesday from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The 88 companies—which include Tesla, Southwest Airlines, Live Nation, Palantir, Citigroup, and many others listed in the S&P 500—brought in a collective $105 billion in pretax income last year.

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ITEP found that 2025 saw a spike in corporate tax avoidance, enabled in part by new loopholes created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump and by his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced the corporate tax rate to 21% from its previous 35%.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is expected to hand the wealthiest 1% of Americans $117 billion in tax cuts this year, while those in the bottom 95% are set to pay more in taxes while facing across-the-board cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

It also allowed multimillion- and billion-dollar corporations to find new ways to avoid paying taxes. More than half of the tax-avoiders listed in the report used a provision in the new tax law allowing companies to immediately write off capital investments, reducing their collective taxes by $11.4 billion.

Pharmaceutical and tech companies, meanwhile, were able to take advantage of tax write-offs for research and development, exempting them from approximately another $4.4 billion.

In total, the corporate tax avoidance documented in 2025 by the researchers helped to rob the public coffers of yet another $26.7 billion, enough to give every public school student a free lunch for a year, according to a University of Missouri analysis of the National School Lunch Program.

The researchers said that the full scale of corporate tax avoidance remains unclear, since corporate tax returns are not publicly available. Some companies were also excluded because they are not part of the S&P 500 or have not yet reported their 2025 taxes.

“These findings are not isolated cases—they reflect systemic deficiencies in the corporate tax code,” said Amy Hanauer, the executive director for ITEP. “Without meaningful reform, profitable corporations will continue to pay less than their fair share.”

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue ReadingWith Help From Trump-GOP Law, At Least 88 Big US Corporations Paid $0 in Federal Income Tax Last Year

HMRC won’t admit how much tax is lost offshore

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Original article by Simon Lock and Ed Siddons republished from TBIJ under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Sign outside HMRC in Whitehall, London SW1
Sign outside HMRC in Whitehall, London SW1

The taxman has the numbers needed to estimate how much cash is lost to overseas havens – but it isn’t sharing the details

An MP has demanded HMRC release its official estimate of how much tax is being lost to offshore havens – information we discovered is currently being withheld by the authority.

A Freedom of Information request by TaxWatch, shared with TBIJ, revealed that in apparent contrast to its previous claims, HMRC holds data needed to estimate the offshore tax gap. But it would not hand the information over.

“We urgently need HMRC to clarify the situation – otherwise we will never crack down on tax dodging,” said Lloyd Hatton MP, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee.

The offshore tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax the UK should collect from offshore sources, and what it actually receives. It puts a number on the cost to the public when people and companies move their money offshore to avoid, evade or fail to declare tax.

HMRC has previously claimed that it holds no estimate for the overall offshore tax gap. But in response to a recent FOI request, the tax authority revealed that it does in fact hold a figure for “offshore tax at risk”.

This number is the amount of tax HMRC thinks could be lost because of avoidance, evasion and non-compliance. HMRC has said itself that this could be used to work out the offshore tax gap. All HMRC would need to do is subtract from it another number called the “compliance yield” – the amount HMRC did manage to claw back through enforcement activities.

HMRC has even published its figures on the compliance yield for offshore-related tax, meaning it already has data needed to calculate the offshore tax gap figure.

But in response to our FOI request, HMRC refused to disclose the “tax at risk” figure on the basis it could “prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs”.

The correspondence calls into question direct statements made earlier this year by the head of HMRC to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), whose role is to scrutinise government departments.

In February, the authority’s CEO Jim Harra wrote to the PAC’s chair to say his organisation did not hold figures on the total offshore tax gap. Instead, he referred to a number published by the agency in 2024.

Back then, this partial number – gathered from self-assessment tax returns – was referred to as “experimental statistics” and it estimated that tax from offshore sources was underpaid to the tune of only £0.3bn.

We urgently need HMRC to clarify the situation – otherwise we will never crack down on tax dodging

Lloyd Hatton, MP

This figure has been called into question as too low by the Public Accounts Committee. By comparison, the UK’s entire tax gap is estimated by HMRC to be nearly £50bn.

Commenting on the new FOI correspondence, Hatton said: “The Public Accounts Committee report [in July] showed that HMRC is incapable of identifying those super-wealthy individuals who choose to squirrel away their wealth – often using offshore accounts in tax havens.

“Without this, it cannot effectively pursue those who deliberately avoid or evade paying their fair share of tax.

“The Committee has pressed for greater transparency concerning tax lost offshore, without this information we cannot properly assess whether HMRC’s compliance efforts are effective or adequately resourced. And – even more crucially – we cannot go after egregious tax dodging.”

A spokesperson for TaxWatch said: “We understand that HMRC has a responsibility to ensure that it’s publishing accurate information. But there seems undue secrecy around this figure, which is routinely published for other types of tax and taxpayer.”

It marks yet another turn in the hunt for clarity on just how much tax is avoided or evaded offshore. In 2022, then Treasury Minister Lucy Frazer vowed that HMRC would publish the much-desired offshore tax gap figure, but in the run-up to the general election, HMRC demurred.

A spokesperson for HMRC said: “We are working to assess the feasibility of broadening the scope of the published estimate of the offshore tax gap, as stated to the Public Accounts Committee, and will report back to them.”

Original article by Simon Lock and Ed Siddons republished from TBIJ under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Continue ReadingHMRC won’t admit how much tax is lost offshore

38 Former World Leaders Have a Message: Tax Fossil Giants to Fight Climate Crisis

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Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A Greenpeace sign projected on a building says, “Stop Drilling-Start Paying”—a message directed at the world’s fossil fuel companies. (Photo: Greenpeace)

“Pressure is mounting on today’s politicians to hold those most responsible for the climate crisis to account,” said one Greenpeace campaigner.

Thirty-eight former world leaders on Wednesday used the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York—as well as other global summits on the horizon—to demand a new global framework for steeper taxes on the world’s wealthiest and most powerful fossil fuel giants to pay for an urgent transition away from dirty energy sources toward a healthier planet and more equitable economy.

Under the auspices of the nonpartisan Club de Madrid, the world’s largest forum of former democratically-elected presidents and prime ministers, an open letter—signed by Carlos Alvarado, former President of Costa Rica; Mari Kiviniemi, former Prime Minister of Finland; Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka; former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon; and dozens of others—calls the climate crisis “a defining challenge of our time” and urges current leaders to “place the question of fair taxation of fossil fuel company profits firmly on national and international agendas” before it is too late.

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“With wealthier countries leading by example,” say the leaders, increased taxation of the world’s coal, oil, and gas giants coupled with a redirection of taxpayer subsidies away from the fossil fuel sector and toward a just renewable energy transition “could be transformative, enabling a faster and fairer global transition and strengthening public trust that climate action can deliver tangible benefits for all.”

“Taxing fossil fuel profits is not only fair—it is also essential to ease the economic burden of the climate crisis, felt by ordinary people through higher food prices, lost working days, pressure on energy bills and higher home insurance premiums.”

Citing the need for global cooperation and ambition to address the warming planet and ongoing climate breakdown, the open letter states:

It is time to consider innovative solutions that can simultaneously establish a clear incentive for companies to shift investment to renewable energy as quickly as possible, while mobilising significant funds to address climate damages and advance both equality and equity. Today, we call on you to consider permanent polluter profit taxes applied to high-emitting industries, designed to ensure contributions come from those with the greatest capacity to pay rather than from ordinary consumers of fossil fuels. With wealthier countries leading by example, these taxes should place the primary responsibility on those with the greatest capacity, not on middle- and low-income communities.

The former world leaders acknowledge the strain governments feel about generating the necessary revenue, estimated at approximately $6.5 trillion per year by 2030, to fund the rapid transition scientists and experts say is necessary to avoid the worst future impacts of an increasingly hotter planet. However, they argue that the polluting companies that have profited most from the fossil fuel era are best positioned to foot the bill, and that the cost of action is far less than the cost of fixing the damage that future climate change will cause if left unaddressed.

“During the oil and gas price crisis in 2022, many governments implemented windfall taxes. We must consider making such approaches permanent,” the letter argues. “A polluter profits tax modestly applied to normal returns and significantly higher on windfall gains could, if applied just to oil, coal, and gas companies, generate up to $400 billion in its first year.”

Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace International’s global political lead for its “Stop Drilling Start Paying” campaign, said the letter represents what real leadership looks like and that forcing fossil fuel giants to pay higher taxes to help solve the planetary crisis their insatiable greed has spurred has never been more popular with the people worldwide.

“This is a powerful call from former world leaders to make oil and gas corporations pay their fair share for the destruction they have caused,” said Newsom.

Noting recent survey data, Newsom said 8 out of 10 people around the world now “support taxing these polluters for climate damages—the backing of former political leaders adds more weight to this urgent demand.”

“Pressure is mounting on today’s politicians to hold those most responsible for the climate crisis to account,” she said. “Taxing fossil fuel profits is not only fair—it is also essential to ease the economic burden of the climate crisis, felt by ordinary people through higher food prices, lost working days, pressure on energy bills and higher home insurance premiums.”

With the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa and the UN Global Tax Convention in Kenya, both scheduled for November, the former world leaders say the moment is right for global leaders to finally show urgency on the issue.

“The world has the tools, the knowledge, and the resources to act,” their letter concludes. “What is needed now is the political courage to ensure that those with the greatest capacity contribute their fair share. This will not only advance climate justice but also strengthen the foundations of a more stable, resilient, and prosperous global economy.”

Greenpeace’s Newsom said the message is clear. “Governments must find the courage to decisively tax oil and gas corporations and redirect those funds towards a just transition away from fossil fuels and a safe future in the face of a climate crisis.”

Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue Reading38 Former World Leaders Have a Message: Tax Fossil Giants to Fight Climate Crisis

The rich are a threat to our economy and our democracy

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/rich-are-threat-our-economy-and-our-democracy

 Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament, October 30, 2024

HMRC’S ignorance about how much tax British billionaires pay exposes the missing factor in government announcements on public spending.

Tight finances are used as excuses to attack pensioners and deny justice to the wronged, like the Waspi women.

Even when — thanks to a welcome revolt against Rachel Reeves’s renewed austerity by Labour MPs — cuts to disability payments are reduced in scope, ministers suggest the pain will be shunted sideways: it will make it harder to lift the two-child benefit cap, or force a regressive freeze on income tax thresholds (so they don’t rise with inflation, distributing the tax burden downwards).

The public accounts committee’s Lloyd Hatton says its report is “not concerned with political debate around the redistribution of wealth,” and is intended solely to address shortcomings in HMRC’s ability to collect the tax owed.

But the doubt it casts on HMRC’s own estimates of the “tax gap” (the difference between tax owed in theory and tax collected) has significant implications for public spending choices.

Besides, the failure to introduce land and wealth taxes is one reason the very wealthy are able to hide their assets, and indeed real incomes, so effectively.

The concentration of extreme wealth among an ever smaller number of people is accelerating. It is pronounced enough — with just 50 families owning as much as the poorer 50 per cent of the British population — to distort the entire economy.

…

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Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Continue ReadingThe rich are a threat to our economy and our democracy

Bezos’ Lavish Venice Wedding Spurs Demand for Global Billionaire Tax

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Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Activists from the U.K. action group Everyone Hates Elon and Greenpeace Italy unfolded a banner reading, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” on Piazza San Marco in the Italian city on June 23, 2025. (Photo: Michele Lapini/Greenpeace)

“This isn’t just about one person—it’s about changing the rules so no billionaire can dodge responsibility, anywhere,” said one Greenpeace campaigner.

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos—the third- or fourth-richest person on the planet, depending on the list—is hosting various wedding events in Venice, Italy, this week, festivities that have drawn protests, including a massive banner on Monday.

Activists with Greenpeace Italy and the U.K. action group Everyone Hates Elon—targeting Elon Musk, U.S. President Donald Trump’s close far-right ally and the wealthiest person on Earth—unfolded a banner that read, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” in Piazza San Marco.

“While Venice is sinking under the weight of the climate crisis, billionaires are partying like there is no tomorrow on their megayachts,” Greenpeace campaigner Clara Thompson said in a statement. “This isn’t just about one person—it’s about changing the rules so no billionaire can dodge responsibility, anywhere.”

“The real issue is a broken system that lets billionaires skip out on their fair share of taxes while everyone else is left to foot the bill,” she argued. “That’s why we need fair, inclusive tax rules, and they must be written at the U.N.”

Jeff Bezos pays his staff poverty wages and dodges tax. No wonder he can afford to shut down half of Venice for his wedding this week. Tax billionaires NOW.Location: Piazza San Marco, Venice@greenpeace.org #JeffBezos #TaxTheSuperRich

— Everyone Hates Elon (@everyonehateselon.bsky.social) 2025-06-23T10:53:54.552Z

Reporting on Monday’s display of the banner—which features Bezos’ face and is about 65 feet long and wide—Reuters detailed:

Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.

“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.

A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon similarly said in a Monday statement that “as governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married.”

“Just weeks ago, he spent millions on an 11-minute space trip,” the spokesperson added, referring to the Blue Origin flight for multiple public figures, including Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. “If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it’s this.”

Bezos and Sánchez’s event planners, Lanza and Baucina, toldCNN: “Rumors of ‘taking over’ the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality… From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimizing of any disruption to the city.”

The details surrounding Bezos’ marriage to the former news anchor have been closely guarded, but CNN reported that around 30 of Venice’s 280 water taxis are thought to be reserved, the city’s nine yacht ports are booked, and one source said that special permission has been granted for private helicopters.

While Venice’s mayor and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the billionaire’s luxury wedding events, citing economic benefits for local businesses, “the ‘No Space for Bezos’ movement—a play on words also referring to the bride’s recent space flight—has united a dozen Venetian organizations including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners, and university groups,” according toThe Associated Press.

The Bloomberg and Forbes lists tracking global billionaires put Bezos’ net worth between $223.4 billion and $231 billion as of Monday. At times in recent years, he has been believed to be the richest person in the world.

Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingBezos’ Lavish Venice Wedding Spurs Demand for Global Billionaire Tax