Bend Over, America!
(Again.) Guess who owes us back taxes? Matt Jaffe writes on ABC News that at least 13 companies who've sucked up some of the $300 billion in TARP funds owe hundreds of millions of dollars in back taxes:
Two of the companies owe more than $100 million in taxes, said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight.Altogether, the 13 companies owed the government more than $220 million in unpaid taxes, he said.
...He didn't identify the companies or indicate how much TARP money they have received. But some of the corporations that have received the largest chunks of TARP cash include AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors and Chrysler.
So far, Treasury has allocated $300 billion of the TARP money that was authorized by the Bush administration. It is preparing to allocate a second $300 billion by the Obama administration.
The Georgia lawmaker said the subcommittee learned of the unpaid taxes from IRS records. He said these firms were required to sign contracts that they did not have any unpaid taxes, but the Treasury Department never requested the tax records.
"This entire program is based on trust -- trust in the giver and trust in the taker," Lewis said.
There's a term for that sort of thing: "being gullible."
These morons couldnt be trusted to run a company - anyone stop to think lying might not be a problem for beggars and pan handlers?
lujlp at March 20, 2009 4:35 AM
Talk about a drain on society. Let them go under already. Maybe if we did, instead of rewarding bad behavior, we'd get a better caliber of corporation that actually practice sound business ethics and would benefit our society and build it's economy.
Sigh. Don't bother telling me. I know I'm living in dreamland hoping for that one.
T's Grammy at March 20, 2009 5:29 AM
Asshats asshats asshats. My 4 year olds could run the country better, I swear.
momof3 at March 20, 2009 6:33 AM
I think we're so used to hearing about how incompetent our government is, nothing is even shocking anymore. You could mention any number of catastrophic screw-ups (by either our current or former administrations), and I wouldn't be surprised.
ahw at March 20, 2009 7:32 AM
what happened to "Trust, but Verify"?
SwissArmyD at March 20, 2009 9:26 AM
There's also a name for the reporting on this story: innumerate. If two of the companies owe more than $100 million apiece, but the total tab for all 13 companies is $220 million that means that the other 11 owe less than $20 million TOTAL or less than two mill each. At the size of these companies that's well below the rounding error threshold. The story here is that there are two large tax deadbeats (at most) in the mix, not 13. But that doesn't make as big a splash so it gets tarted up by a nitwit Congressman and echoed mindlessly by a nitwit journalist (Matt Jaffe, Amy, not you). Amy, I like your blog and your take on things even when I disagree, but this isn't as big a deal as you make it sound.
johnshade at March 20, 2009 11:22 AM
Imagine how much better it would be if we simply didn't tax corporations. It would only drop revenue by a few hundred billion a year, which pales next to the amount Congress has already lit on fire and dropped over the bone-dry forest of our economy.
Pseudonym at March 20, 2009 12:46 PM
what happened to "Trust, but Verify"?
I think that went out with Reagan.
Jim P. at March 20, 2009 1:27 PM
Went out before Reagan - unless you want to consiser Iran Contra was approved him
lujlp at March 20, 2009 1:54 PM
The assholes in congress that have given our hard earned money away like so much toilet paper should be hanged for treason...
Hear that Pilosi, Dodd, and Reid? HANGED!
Ari at March 20, 2009 4:59 PM
Hanging them is a waste of perfectly good rope.
brian at March 20, 2009 8:59 PM
Here's one that needs to be in every congress critters office -- and the senior poser in chief!
What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
Jim P. at March 21, 2009 3:09 PM
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