Twice as many companies to pay zero taxes for 2018 due to Trump’s tax gift to the rich and powerful

You may owe taxes on your salary over the last year, but many Fortune 500 companies won’t pay squat on billions in profits, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The 2018 tax rate for at least 60 profitable Fortune 500 companies will be virtually nothing or even less—which is about double the number of companies reporting that rate on average in an analysis of previous years. Collectively, the 60 companies are skating on some $79 billion in pretax income. “Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes, as the new 21 percent corporate tax rate requires, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion,” ITEP wrote. Here’s just a glimpse of the billion-dollar companies that were able to zero out their federal income through the loopholes Donald Trump and the GOP built into their tax giveaway to the rich and powerful.

  • Amazon
  • Chevron
  • Deere
  • Delta Air Lines
  • General Motors
  • Halliburton
  • Honeywell International
  • Molson Coors
  • Prudential Financial

Check out the full table of companies here.

Of course, those giant tax cuts haven’t zeroed out anything for the federal government. The federal budget deficit was up 77 percent for the first quarter of fiscal year 2019 compared to the same period the previous year. A big portion of the increase came from a decrease in corporate tax revenues, according to the Washington Post.

View the complete April 12 article by Kerry Eleveld with the Daily Kos on the AlterNet website here.