We applaud Joe Nocera for pointing out who’s really responsible for the fact that General Electric’s tax department is a profit center.

Is G.E. one of the companies that lobbies for the active financing exception? You bet it is. As Willens nicely puts it, “They are taking advantage of a loophole they helped create.”

But G.E. has also taken the next obvious step: It has managed, over time, to shift billions of dollars in profits from its U.S. income statement to its overseas income statements. Wouldn’t you know it? Most of their profits are also financing related. There is nothing illegal or even unethical about any of this. It’s Congress — the same Congress that is now screaming bloody murder about the deficit — that has paved the way for G.E.’s tax creativity.

We would go further. Who’s really responsible? Any voter who responds to paid political advertising, that’s who.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 at 10:30 am.