From the Huffington Post:
One of the largest recipients of federal government contracts paid nothing in taxes last year, according to an analysis from the Center for Effective Government, a left-leaning think tank.
Boeing reported an $82 million tax refund last year, but made $5.9 billion in U.S. pre-tax profits during the same period, the analysis of the company’s recent government filings found. That means Boeing paid a federal tax rate of -1.4 percent. At the same time, the company won 4.4 percent of all federal contracts last year, according to the report.
"Companies that live by the taxpayer purse should be contributing to the welfare of the states and paying their taxes," said Scott Klinger, the author of the report. "The fact that we have major federal contractors that are consistently not doing that should raise questions for our legislators about how this could be."
The company has a history of using loopholes to lower its tax bill, according to Matt Gardner, the executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The report found that Boeing paid a tax rate of -0.4 percent over the past five years.
“The fact that Boeing paid no income tax this year is not at all surprising because they have a very reliable track record of paying little or nothing in federal and income state tax,” Gardner said.
……
While it’s true that the Center for Effective Government analysis doesn’t include Boeing’s deferred taxes, Gardner characterized them differently. “Deferral technically means that you’re postponing tax, that this tax will be paid some day,” he said. “They are essentially shifting taxes forward indefinitely.”
You may remember Boeing from other stories like
"biggest tax break in history" and
"major corporation gets workers to agree to pension freeze".
Why not just save the administrative costs and send checks to Boeing's shareholders directly?