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How Long Was GM's 2005 Federal Tax Return?

This was news a couple months ago, but I never had a chance to read up on it.

The answer?  24,000 pages.

The IRS is touting this on their website because GM was able to file electronically.  Look at all the paper they saved.  Yippee.  But how much money did they spend on tax attorneys, management approval, etc.?  How many man years did it take to complete this?  And how much of my taxpayer money will it cost the IRS to review this return?

And people still claim that our tax code isn't too complex and that it isn't a burden to business.  Ford is in the news these days with some massive "restructuring" (i.e. layoffs) coming up, and the stepping down of Bill Ford from their top position.  Ford would certainly have found it easier to compete and easier to be profitable if they didn't have to spend so much dealing with the federal tax code.  You want to make things easier for Ford and GM and help them get competitive again and help their workers keep their jobs?  There's a simple way.

It's time for a radical change.  It's time for the FairTax.  November is just around the corner. Take a look at your choices and find out which of them support the FairTax.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:47 AM

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# re: How Long Was GM's 2005 Federal Tax Return?

It wasn't GM it was GE. Much of that length was likely itemization of expenses and other balance sheet details. Not a lot to do with the tax code.

As it was filed electronically, it will be reviewed electronically with only items flagged by the computer getting personal attention so it's not a big labour deal for the IRS.

As a global company, GE has far more to deal with than just the US tax system. They structure their business to take advantage of every tax system in every country to maximize shareholder value.

A fair tax system may do more harm than good if it means that a company's net tax goes up. They'll simply transfer profits (it's more complex than this but that's it in a nutshell) to other countries. 9/6/2006 2:36 PM | David Totzke
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