General Electric: Is the Corporate Tax Fair?

Addressing a crowd of protestors outside SAE World Congress, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt seemed to balk at the notion that GE didn’t pay its “fair share” of taxes last fiscal year. " Yet he did not seem to address the concerns of the protestors regarding the income tax payment of GE in 2010- less than 7%. The debate over taxation- especially with regards to the “job creators”- is a hot topic in Congress today. It is possibly the single greatest contributor to the gridlock that we se today. Republicans are seeking to alleviate pressures on corporations and small business owners while Democrats and other leftists want them to pay what they deem a “fair share” of their profits- typically equivalent to the income tax rate. Yet is this something that can be compromised? With the Tea Party making up a significant faction of the GOP in Congress today, and the economy still in a perceived downturn the political consequences of appeasement may be too large for the Republicans. Acceding to Obama’s taxation policies would not only be a show of weakness, but also demonstrate that the choice that the public has to make in November may have blurrier lines than first thought.