Sanders, warren call out fedex for paying $0 in taxes after trump cuts

[Charlemagne]

SANDERS, WARREN CALL OUT FEDEX FOR PAYING $0 IN TAXES AFTER TRUMP CUTS

BY BENJAMIN FEAR

NOW ON 11/17/19 AT 3:34 PM EST

Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both blasted FedEx and President Donald Trump's "corporate elite" tax cuts for allowing the courier giant to avoid paying any federal taxes.

The progressive 2020 hopefuls responded to a Sunday New York Times report that detailed how FedEx was able to reduce their federal taxes from $1.5 billion to $0 in just one year. The corporate mail titan used aggressive Washington lobbying tactics and vowed to boost capital investment as they pushed Trump and Republicans to approve his $1.5 trillion tax cut from 2017. Sanders and Warren have both made the cozy relationship between Trump and corporate America--at the expense of the average taxpayer--a central campaign focus.

Sanders and Warren highlighted how moderate Democrats and conservatives frequently claim the U.S. can't invest in middle-class taxpayers while offering trillions of dollars in tax breaks to massive corporations.

"We're told we can't afford to invest in the housing, health care and education our people need. Meanwhile, giant corporations are paying ZERO in federal income taxes. When we stand up to the corporate elite, we can make real change for our country," Sanders remarked on Twitter Sunday morning.

Bernie Sanders

@BernieSanders

We're told we can't afford to invest in the housing, health care and education our people need.

Meanwhile, giant corporations are paying ZERO in federal income taxes.

When we stand up to the corporate elite, we can make real change for our country. https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1196088157072220160…

The New York Times

@nytimes

FedEx's tax bill went from $1.5 billion to $0 in a single year. What changed? The Trump administration’s tax cut — for which the company had lobbied hard. https://nyti.ms/37iwi1h

15K

11:12 AM - Nov 17, 2019

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Warren, the Massachusetts senator and fellow Democratic hopeful, concurred in a separate tweet Sunday: "You're probably paying more in federal income taxes than a bunch of big American corporations that make billions of dollars. It's obscene. These companies love to wave the American flag, but they won't pitch in a dime to support the investments we make."

Elizabeth Warren

@ewarren

You're probably paying more in federal income taxes than a bunch of big American corporations that make billions of dollars. It's obscene. These companies love to wave the American flag, but they won’t pitch in a dime to support the investments we make. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/17/business/how-fedex-cut-its-tax-bill-to-0.html**…

How FedEx Cut Its Tax Bill to $0

The company, like much of corporate America, has not made good on its promised investment surge from President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.

nytimes.com

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12:54 PM - Nov 17, 2019

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The Times report lays out how companies like FedEx never followed through on their promise to more heavily invest if they received tax windfalls from the federal government. "If anything, the companies that received the biggest tax cuts increased their capital investment by less, on average, than companies that got smaller cuts," the authors noted. FedEx founder and chief executive Frederick Smith claimed in 2017 on The Larry Kudlow Show that the U.S. would see a "renaissance of capital investment" if corporations received massive tax breaks--something the Timesrevealed has never happened.

Financial filings for FedEx show the company has saved more than $1.6 billion since the Trump tax cuts were passed in 2017. FedEx has paid $2 billion in total federal income taxes over the past decade. The company issued a statement calling it unfair for them to be judged for receiving such a massive tax break.

"FedEx invested billions in capital items eligible for accelerated depreciation and made large contributions to our employee pension plans," the company said in a statement. "These factors have temporarily lowered our federal income tax, which was the law's intention to help grow G.D.P., create jobs and increase wages."

Sanders has long lamented how Trump's failure to release his tax returns and reveal that he potentially paid nothing in income federal income tax is evidence of the corruption and corporate cronyism his campaign seeks to fight.

"This is exactly why so many millions of Americans are frustrated. They're angry, they're disgusted, at what they see as a corrupt political system in this country," Sanders said in October 2016, in the lead up to Trump's first-term election.

https://www.newsweek.com/fedex-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-blast-zero-federal-taxes-trump-tax-cuts-1472277

 

[onthebottom]

Accelerated depreciation, do you suppose Sanders and Warren understand this?

 

[oldjones]

Accelerated depreciation, do you suppose Sanders and Warren understand this?

Sorta like smart bankruptcies? Where you have lotsa actual funds to pay what you owe/what we pay, but the paperwork says you don't have to? 'Cause you're 'elite'.

 

[onthebottom]

Sorta like smart bankruptcies? Where you have lotsa actual funds to pay what you owe/what we pay, but the paperwork says you don't have to? 'Cause you're 'elite'.

OK, so oldjones, Sanders and Warren don’t know how depreciation works....

 

[bver_hunter]

Trump's businesses must have had Super High Speed Depreciation for him not only not to pay taxes for goodness how many years, but also to claw back credits for these businesses.

Explains why he will not release his tax returns!!

 

[onthebottom]

Trump's businesses must have had Super High Speed Depreciation for him not only not to pay taxes for goodness how many years, but also to claw back credits for these businesses.

Explains why he will not release his tax returns!!

Much like the OP article, pure speculative bullshit, echoed by credible POTUS contenders that apparently don’t understand depreciation.

 

[b4u]

FedEx responds to The New York Times article from Nov. 17, 2019


Statement from FedEx

The New York Times article is a deliberate distortion of our company’s actions before and after tax reform. FedEx has paid federal income tax every year, including fiscal year 2018. Following passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), FedEx invested billions in capital items eligible for accelerated depreciation and made large contributions to our employee pension plans. These factors have temporarily lowered our federal income tax, which was the law’s intention to help grow GDP and generate investment in the U.S. The accelerated depreciation deductions are only temporary with higher depreciation and lower taxes early in the life of a new capital asset. This is then offset by lower depreciation and higher taxes later in that asset’s life. These temporary deductions FedEx received for capital investments are minimal compared to the overall impact the company has on the economy.

FedEx made extensive investments in our team members and our global network to better serve our customers following passage of the TCJA. These investments included a voluntary contribution of $1.5 billion to the FedEx pension plan to ensure it remains a well-funded retirement program, more than $200 million in increased team member compensation – about two-thirds of which went to hourly team members – and more than $3 billion to significantly expand and modernize our Memphis and Indianapolis hubs through 2025.

FedEx takes pride in paying its full share of taxes and has paid almost $10 billion in total taxes in the U.S. during the last five fiscal years, contributing to tax revenues of the U.S. government. We have supported tax increases in some cases, particularly federal diesel and gasoline taxes, to fund badly-needed infrastructure in the United States. The decrease in U.S. investment over the past year is due to the slowdown in global trade which has a significant impact on the asset-intensive industrial economy, including FedEx.

Statement from Frederick W. Smith, Chairman and CEO of FedEx Corporation

The New York Times published a distorted and factually incorrect story on the front page of the Sunday, November 17 edition concerning FedEx and our billions of dollars of tax payments and billions of dollars of investments in the U.S. economy. Pertinent to this outrageous distortion of the truth is the fact that unlike FedEx, the New York Times paid zero federal income tax in 2017 on earnings of $111 million, and only $30 million in 2018 – 18% of their pretax book income. Also in 2018 the New York Times cut their capital investments nearly in half to $57 million, which equates to a rounding error when compared to the $6 billion of capital that FedEx invested in the U.S. economy during that same year.

I hereby challenge A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times and the business section editor to a public debate in Washington, DC with me and the FedEx corporate vice president of tax. The focus of the debate should be federal tax policy and the relative societal benefits of business investments and the enormous intended benefits to the United States economy, especially lower and middle class wage earners.

I look forward to promptly hearing from Mr. Sulzberger and scheduling this open event to bring further public awareness of the facts related to these important issues.

 

[bver_hunter]

Much like the OP article, pure speculative bullshit, echoed by credible POTUS contenders that apparently don’t understand depreciation.

Trump is the bullshitter, and that is why he is the only President that refuses to release his tax returns. His business collapses and bankruptcies says it all!!!

 

[Butler1000]

Accelerated depreciation, do you suppose Sanders and Warren understand this?

If a business can do it, why not say a homeowner who due to an economic downturn do the same with a house.

Or a car.

Why should the cost of doing business be a tax break but the cost of living not be?

 

[bver_hunter]

If a business can do it, why not say a homeowner who due to an economic downturn do the same with a house.

Or a car.

Why should the cost of doing business be a tax break but the cost of living not be?

True and I agree with Butler in this respect!! :yo:

 

[bluecolt]

Trump is the bullshitter, and that is why he is the only President that refuses to release his tax returns. His business collapses and bankruptcies says it all!!!

More TDS. This article is about Sanders and Warren. This clown hijacks every thread with his anti-Trump bullshit and anti-establishment detritus.

 

[onthebottom]

If a business can do it, why not say a homeowner who due to an economic downturn do the same with a house.

Or a car.

Why should the cost of doing business be a tax break but the cost of living not be?

Really, Do I have to explain this?

 

[onthebottom]

More TDS. This article is about Sanders and Warren. This clown hijacks every thread with his anti-Trump bullshit and anti-establishment detritus.

If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail

 

[Butler1000]

Really, Do I have to explain this?

Sure, go ahead. Explain why businesses don't have to pay taxes when they buy stuff but people do.

Say how about why a business can write off a new computer but a disabled veteran can't write off a wheelchair ramp.

 

[SchlongConery]

Accelerated depreciation, do you suppose Sanders and Warren understand this?

Of course they do. They are pointing out the tax policy of, inter alia, "accelerated" depreciation means that profitable companies can pay no tax. Most assets do not depreciate to zero upon purchase. So allowing that tax break is artificial.

If a business can do it, why not say a homeowner who due to an economic downturn do the same with a house.

Or a car.

Why should the cost of doing business be a tax break but the cost of living not be?

A specious false equivalency argument that seems reasonable to those who don't know wtf they are talking about! lol

Aside from your house not being a business, real estate is not depreciated annually. If your business loses money on a real estate asset you can claim the actual loss. If an American taxpayer loses money on the sale of their house, they can offset against capital gains. A normal car owner cannot claim depreciation on their personal car used for personal use!

If Joe Average has a bad year, say by losing his job, or with a lower income, then.... shazam, he pays less taxes! If he overspends and takes on too much debt, tough shit.

 

[onthebottom]

Sure, go ahead. Explain why businesses don't have to pay taxes when they buy stuff but people do.

Say how about why a business can write off a new computer but a disabled veteran can't write off a wheelchair ramp.

Business are not people, they are organizations focused on creating a return for investors in the form of profits. Profits are taxed and are the net of revenue and expenses. They are the net value created. There are many kinds of costs, some are opex (operational expenses) like salaries and rent. Others are Capex (capital expenditures) where the value of an asset (a Fedex truck) cannot be expensed immediately but must be expensed over the life of the asset (say 36 or 48 months).

Individuals pay taxes on income, capital gains (income from investing), interest (income from investing) and depending on jurisdiction other items (net gambling winnings). People who run a SCorp business (self employed) pay taxes like a company. Deductible items from taxable income are simply political choices based on what politicians want to subsidize.

The veteran may very well be able to write off a ramp, more likely given one as part of a VA program.

 

[SchlongConery]

Sure, go ahead. Explain why businesses don't have to pay taxes when they buy stuff but people do.

Say how about why a business can write off a new computer but a disabled veteran can't write off a wheelchair ramp.

Well let me try to explain it to you.


Business Tax 101

When a business spends money to make money, they are allowed to deduct the money they spend/invest to make that money!

When a government decides to implement accelerated capital equipment expenses, like a computer, they are trying to stimulate the economy... so maybe with more computer sales this year the computer company and local dealer etc will also expand their business. But if next year the company is bigger, with faster computers, and is more profitable, they will pay more tax!


Disability Tax Credits 101

Wheelchair access ramps and other modifications to your home are tax deductible. In addition to other disability tax credits.




Why don't you stick to your wheelhouse of conspiracy theories?

 

[SchlongConery]

Business are not people, they are organizations focused on creating a return for investors in the form of profits. Profits are taxed and are the net of revenue and expenses. They are the net value created. There are many kinds of costs, some are opex (operational expenses) like salaries and rent. Others are Capex (capital expenditures) where the value of an asset (a Fedex truck) cannot be expensed immediately but must be expensed over the life of the asset (say 36 or 48 months).

Individuals pay taxes on income, capital gains (income from investing), interest (income from investing) and depending on jurisdiction other items (net gambling winnings). People who run a SCorp business (self employed) pay taxes like a company. Deductible items from taxable income are simply political choices based on what politicians want to subsidize.

The veteran may very well be able to write off a ramp, more likely given one as part of a VA program.

 

[onthebottom]

Of course they do. They are pointing out the tax policy of, inter alia, "accelerated" depreciation means that profitable companies can pay no tax. Most assets do not depreciate to zero upon purchase. So allowing that tax break is artificial.

Depreciation schedules are often manipulated to encourage investment, with little effect I think but that’s just my opinion.

Given that neither the NYTimes or the hysterical Democratic nominee candidates have access to FedEx tax returns they are likely drawing incorrect and misleading conclusions from quarter filings.

 

[bluecolt]

Sure, go ahead. Explain why businesses don't have to pay taxes when they buy stuff but people do.

Say how about why a business can write off a new computer but a disabled veteran can't write off a wheelchair ramp.

In Canada, the amortization or depreciation rates and methods are unfair and archaic. The Liberal response to Mr. Trump's tax reform is lukewarm when it comes to its AIIP or accelerated program. The American plan is much more expansive with its full write-off of some capital costs and straight-line amortization instead of our ancient declining balance method. However, a business can still write off a computer over its useful life only if it is used in the business as a legitimate business expenditure. It cannot be written off over time if it is used for personal non-income producing purposes such as at home to browse the internet or to write to this thread in your "incel cave."

Any Canadian, as well as any veteran, can expense a wheelchair ramp legitimately as an eligible medical expense.