Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Report – “At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes in their most recent fiscal year despite enjoying substantial pretax profits in the United States. This continues a decades-long trend of corporate tax avoidance by the biggest U.S. corporations, and it appears to be the product of long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) as well as the CARES Act tax breaks enacted in the spring of 2020. The tax-avoiding companies represent various industries and collectively enjoyed almost $40.5 billion in U.S. pretax income in 2020, according to their annual financial reports. The statutory federal tax rate for corporate profits is 21 percent. The 55 corporations would have paid a collective total of $8.5 billion for the year had they paid that rate on their 2020 income. Instead, they received $3.5 billion in tax rebates. Their total corporate tax breaks for 2020, including $8.5 billion in tax avoidance and $3.5 billion in rebates, comes to $12 billion. This report is based on ITEP’s analysis of annual financial reports filed by the nation’s largest publicly traded U.S.-based corporations in their most recent fiscal year. All data presented here come directly from the income tax notes of these reports. Some companies with unusual fiscal years have not yet filed such reports. Some publicly traded corporations paid nothing on profits in their most recent fiscal year but are not included in this report because they are not part of the S&P 500 or Fortune 500…”
Fortune – “Prolonged shutdowns. Workforces that felt isolated and overwhelmed. You name it, COVID brought it. Still, these companies managed not just to muddle through, but to become role models. The takeaway seems clear: Businesses that treat employees well during the toughest of times will attract talent, even when the war for talent heats up. Here, the 100 hottest workplaces—and how they stay that way.”
Joel Slemrod and Michael Keen with Interim Dean Mills on Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the AgesThursday April 1, 2021 at 4 PM CST (Zoom link):
Michael Keen (IMF) & Joel Slemrod (Michigan; Google Scholar), Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages (Princeton University Press 2021):
An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages.
Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes.
Excellence Now Interviews
Tom's latest book, Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, and first course, The Power of Excellence, have been seeing great success since their release on March 15th! Here are some terrific conversations Tom has had about them. Watch to hear straight from Tom why he thinks the Excellence Now campaign is crucial right now.
Tom Peters and Seth Godin 2021, 1 April, 2021
Punk CX podcast (#381) with Tom Peters - Extreme Humanizaton, Punk CXwith Adrian Swinscoe, 27 March, 2021
Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism with Tom Peters, Jaffe Juice TV with Joseph Jaffe, 22 March, 2021
DisrupTV Special Edition Episode Featuring Tom Peters, DisrupTV with Vala Afshar and Ray Wang, 18 March, 2021
Welcome Legendary Thought Leader Tom Peters to Clubhouse, Thinkers Infinitywith Mitch Joel, 16 March, 2021
Dr Diane Hamilton Interviews Tom Peters 2021, Take The Lead with Dr. Diane Hamilton, 15 March, 2021
Tom Peters, Author, Leadership Expert On His Last Book, Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, The Innovative Mindset with Izolda Trakhtenberg, 15 March, 2021
Excellene Now (And Forever) With Tom Peters, Love Is Just Damn Good Businesswith Steve Farber, 5 March, 2021
Extreme Humanism with Tom Peters, Conversations With Phil with Phil Gerbyshak, 3 February, 2021
Excellence Now: It’s All About the Human Stuff with Tom Peters, What's Next! with Tiffani Bova, 21 January, 2021