Wal-Mart Avoiding $2.3 Billion in State Income Taxes

Sheesh, the fraud just doesn't let up. I got this via my associate Siu Hin. Someone better get John Brady on this task.

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Wal-Mart appears to be skipping out on its fair share of the taxes that most Americans have to pay to help support state governments. A new report released by Citizens for Tax Justice and Change to Win reveals that Wal-Mart avoided $2.3 billion in state income taxes, cutting its payment to state governments almost in half between 1999 and 2005.

Only one state, Wisconsin, discloses the taxes that corporations pay annually. The data from Wisconsin provide insight into how other states are individually hurt by Wal-Mart's $2.3 billion in tax avoidance over the past seven years.

Wisconsin is actually a state that does not require "combined reporting" corporate profits for state income tax purposes. This facilitates corporate tax shelters by large multi-state companies like Wal-Mart that involve accounting tricks to shift profits between subsidiaries (on paper) to avoid taxes.