Close Corporate Tax Loopholes

“Tax Loophole, With a Beach” (editorial, Feb. 24) didn’t go quite far enough. The tax loopholes are as big as the whole West Coast! In the Business Week magazine article you quote, it was stated that “52 of the 250 biggest U.S. companies paid effective tax rates of 10% or less in 1998 (the last year for which such data are available). Nearly half of those paid no taxes or got refunds.”

Now consider that the stimulus package passed by the House last fall proposed to eliminate the alternative minimum tax for businesses, making refunds retroactive to 1986. This would have returned billions to these “poor, overtaxed” corporations ($1.4 billion to IBM, $700 million to General Electric and $240 million to his friends at Enron).

Our president pushed through his $1.4-trillion tax reduction package, which gave 38% of the reduction to the top 5% of wage earners. With such largess it is obvious that the poor and middle class will be left to pay the government’s bills.

Bernard Rapkin

Los Angeles

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Talk about shooting the messenger! Nobody, including corporations, has a patriotic duty to pay taxes.

In fact, ever since a certain tea party in Boston, tax avoidance (not evasion) is a civic responsibility, individual and corporate.

Congress has created this abominable tax code and Congress must fix it.

Corporations don’t pay taxes anyway--you do--so solve the problem by eliminating the corporate income tax or just legislate a flat tax with no deductions.

Until then, Washington’s “King Georges” will have to suffer the consequences of smart people seeking ways to avoid paying homage to their tax tyranny.

Ken Artingstall

Glendale

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The Times should publish the names of U.S. companies using offshore tax havens so the rest of us taxpayers can vote at the cash register.

How do you spell “boycott”?

Jack W. Miller

Oak Run, Calif.

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Would it work for me? I need someone to tell me how my husband and I can get a tax deduction for the $15,000 our family spent on medical bills this past year. Many people believe that being on Medicare means that participants get a total free ride on medical bills. It’s not true! Why shouldn’t the government allow all of us to deduct all medical expenses? Why should nonincorporated, average citizens have to exceed 7.5% of total income before they can take a deduction?

Businesses pay medical for employees. Then they are allowed to deduct the total amount as a business expense, and neither the company nor the employee has to pay tax on it.

Why can’t all of us, employed or unemployed, have a full deduction? That’s certainly better, and fairer, than the current alternative for us. That alternative? Merely have $750,000 in a bank (at a 2% rate on savings) to cover our yearly $15,000 medical. Gosh, anybody can do that.

Maria Denker

Studio City