A Push To Close Corporate Tax Loopholes
Taxes are a significant expense for Californians. They fund our schools, provide services like health care, and build roads and public transportation. But many large corporations in California aren’t paying their share in state taxes, leaving the rest of us to foot a bigger bill.

In 2001, more than half of all profitable corporations in California paid $800 or less in taxes for the year, including dozens of corporations that reported over $1 billion in receipts.

This fall, CALPIRG began working on the state budget to ensure that taxes are collected fairly and that our tax dollars are spent efficiently, and effectively meet public needs.

“With a never-ending budget crisis and important programs on the chopping block each year, we’ve got to get a handle on corporations that shirk taxes,” said Emily Rusch, consumer advocate for CALPIRG.

CALPIRG is working to increase disclosure of the taxes that corporations pay and to close loopholes that allow companies to report artificially high profits to their shareholders and artificially low profits to the state tax board.