Wolf Asks IRS to Provide Cost of Processing GE's Tax Filing

WOLF ASKS IRS TO PROVIDE COST OF PROCESSING GE’s TAX FILNG
Filing Was 57,000 Pages Long Yet Company Paid No Taxes on $14 Billion in Profits

Washington, D.C. (November 29) – So, just how much did it cost to process General Electric’s  2010 federal tax filing that permitted the company not to pay taxes on $14 billion in profits?

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) wants to know and yesterday asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to produce an estimated cost.

In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, Wolf pointed to a recent article in the Weekly Standard that said the company’s 2010 electronic return was an estimated 57,000 pages long and would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

“A return of this magnitude was clearly necessary to take advantage of every loophole and earmark in the tax code to avoid paying federal taxes,” Wolf wrote Shulman.

Earlier this month, Wolf gave a speech on the House floor asking why GE pays more taxes in China than in the United States.  Wolf supports reforming the tax code to close loopholes and to end the practice of tax earmarks.  

Wolf also has been critical of GE employing more people overseas than on American soil, despite the fact that the company’s chairman, Jeff Immelt, is the head of the Obama Administration’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.  Just last summer GE announced it was moving the headquarters of its 115-year old X-ray business from Wisconsin to Beijing.  

Equally disturbing, Wolf has said, is GE’s recently announced joint venture with the Chinese firm AVIC to develop avionics systems for jets to create a Chinese competitor to Boeing.  On November 14, Wolf wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in support of a formal national security review of the proposed deal.

“This partnership is troubling for a number of reasons, especially given the increasingly aggressive posture of the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA), the rapid advances in Chinese aeronautics and space programs and the unprecedented Chinese threat from cyber attacks and espionage,” Wolf wrote. “The GE-AVIC joint venture could provide the Chinese with years, if not decades, worth of U.S. avionics technology that will fuel their aeronautics capabilities, potentially at great expense to our national and economic security.”     

Below is the complete text of Wolf’s letter to Shulman:

Mr. Douglas Shulman
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Ave NW Room 3241
Washington, D.C. 20224
 
Dear Mr. Shulman:

According to a March 24 New York Times article, General Electric (GE) paid no federal taxes in the U.S. in 2010. Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service found that the Chinese State Tax Administration and China Tax magazine have recognized GE as a top corporate taxpayer in China. It is noteworthy that GE, which pays no federal taxes in its home country, is honored for being a significant source of tax revenue to China.

Further, a November 17 article on the Weekly Standard's Web site reported that GE's 2010 electronic tax filing to the IRS would be equivalent to 57,000 printed pages; more than 19 feet tall of stacked printed pages. A return of this magnitude was clearly necessary to take advantage of every loophole and earmark in the tax code to avoid paying federal taxes.

I write to request the estimated cost to taxpayers of processing 57,000 pages worth of GE's 2010 tax return. Specifically, how many hours of IRS employees' time was spent reviewing this return and what was the total cost to the government?

I look forward to your response.

Best wishes.

Sincerely,

Frank R. Wolf
Member of Congress