Comment on CWA Lashing Verizon on Tax Avoidance – Jeff Kagan Tech Analyst

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Jeff Kagan

Tech Analyst

     

Initial thoughts…

The Communications Workers of America has launched a painful and embarrassing campaign against Verizon and Verizon Wireless for not paying taxes.

Is Verizon wrong? Are they doing anything wrong or illegal? Is it fair to attack Verizon this way?

Many other companies do the same thing. Verizon is not doing anything different than many other firms. If the loopholes are there and they don’t take advantage of them they are hurting their owners, the shareholders.

If the system is broken because taxes are too high then we should re-design the tax code. This is not just a Verizon issue. This is a tax problem.

It seems I have heard about GE and many other large companies facing the same issue in recent years.

I understand the CWA charges and while I can have empathy with their position, the problem is not Verizon specifically. Instead the problem is the broken tax system with these loopholes.

There is not a right or wrong here. It all depends on the position you look from. Verizon and their investors and countless other companies and their investors think this is great. Those who would benefit from the taxes think this is not so great. It is that simple.

The CWA says Verizon has paid only 10% over the last ten years and close to zero this past year. They say this is wrong.

The way I see this, it is good for Verizon investors, but bad for citizens, governments and taxes.

While this may be embarrassing, I don’t think this is illegal. This gives Verizon, the squeaky clean company, a black eye. If we had the ability to do the same thing, legally, we would.

Is something broken. Maybe. But it is with the tax code, not the companies.

If there is a problem we should work to change the tax code or close the loopholes, not attack individual companies for doing what they should for their investors.

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Please attribute to Jeff Kagan, Tech Analyst with www.jeffKAGAN.com

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Jeff KAGAN| Tech Analyst w Atlanta based jeffKAGAN.com

Analyst sharing perspective on the changing industry for 25 years

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