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GE to donate to BPS, other local causes

The Boston Business Journal reports General Electric says its philanthropic arm will donate $25 million to BPS over the next five years to get students ready for college and work at a modern high-tech company. The company will donate another $25 million to local workforce-training and health centers.

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Comments

How about they just pay taxes or rent instead?

Oh wait... we can't have that, because if they 'donate' their stuff to schools and jobs programs, they get the tax write off for it so we end up paying for it anyways...

Seems like "feel good" idea, when in reality, GE is only looking for a free hand out one one way or another. Typical GE...

This is turning into a real tax payer spit roast from GE. I wish I was a political cartooonist, this would make for a great cartoon.

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Although, isn't rent partly deductible as a business expense? I am also pretty sure they get tax exempt status if they are involved in some research working towards development of some widget/discovery.

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So that would be yet another hand out for GE..

Great let me 'develop' something so I can get a tax break too.

The only thing GE is 'developing' is finding new ways not to pay taxes...

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they pay the tax which would be mis-approriated/stolen by the state for pay raises, debts to contractors for sub-par work, etc etc etc.
If I have learned anything from my adult life it is the reason so many people hate taxes is because the money just DISAPPEARS and you never see any good come from it. If GE wants to donate directly to schools or job training (services the city/ state will NEVER fund adequately) I say kudos to them.
I still don't wanna fund their god-damned heli-pad, and I am still angry about their tax breaks, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

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There is a very real difference between donating directly to a school and paying taxes to a be beaurocracy that spends money doing such great helpful things to our youth as new LED lighting for city hall

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The only difference in GE's eyes is..

Paying taxes

vs

"Donating" and getting a tax break.

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Only different. They get the tax deduction either way. They reportedly do a lot of creative tax accounting. This ain't thst.

And at the end of the day their job is to be as profitable as possible within the law.

Blame the politicians, not them.

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I agree with the there.. its the politicians issue really.

But to profit by continuing going after tax breaks.. Yes I know the pol's dont need to do that but GE shouldn't be at the feeding tube each time ither.

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Do you take every tax deduction available to you? If not, that's on you. GE has an obligation to their shareholders to return as much profit as is LEGALLY possible. Paying less in taxes is one way to do this.

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Do you take every tax deduction available to you?

I do. I have a tax accountant who does my taxes who takes advantage of every avaliable deduction I can get.

But I don't beg for a 20 year deal on no taxes or rent to move my business somewhere or not have to pay rent or anything. (and threaten the current location to give me the same breaks or "I'm leaving"

Then I'm also not the same person who gets such big breaks, and turns around and says "I'm going to donate money and get a huge tax write off" on top of the other breaks they are getting.

Are you some kind of shill for GE? It's been proven time and time again, GE is one of the biggest tax dodgers out there, and they do whatever it takes to get them. There's a fine line to getting deductions and making the system work for you, than what GE does, which is totally milk the system as much as possible.

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If you had the ability to negotiate tax rates with different cities, you wouldn't move from one city to another for a sizeable tax break?

I'm not a shill for GE, but I do understand tax code and sound business practices. It has not been "proven" GE is a "tax dodger". Does GE leave revenue offshore to avoid paying taxes? Sure, so does Apple, GE, and every other international corporate. Do they break the law to avoid paying taxes? If you have the proof of this you said you have, please forward to the IRS.

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I never said they broke the law..

But it's clear GE is after tax breaks.. a multi billion dollar company mind you.. that is looking to suck as much as possible out of the taxpayer teet. There's a fine line between "sound business practices" and just being a bad company alll around.

Do you even read the comments here? Tons of people have proven and given many examples where GE is a tax dodger. And a tax dodger does not necessarily mean they break the law, it just means they find whatever loophole or politician to butter up to get what they want.

Fine then let me rephrase and clarify GE... They are not a good corporation nor a good neighbor. Just ask anyone who lives in Pittsfeild or near the Houstonic River or Lynn or Westwood or anywhere else GE has or has had offices/facilities.

Should we continue to give these people any more breaks? No. None.

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Cybah maybe BosGuy22 and 10 of his friends will pay your tax bill for you. That's what happens when a taxpayer or corporations gets a tax abatement, folks who do pay their taxes pay more or services get cut.

And because you're such a great asset to the community, maybe they'll pay your rent for 20 years too. But first, we'll have them to buy two office buildings in the Seaport and you can live there.

What's a home without a helipad? BosGuy22 and his buddies can pay to have it built, and a new bridge, and public parking, and the list goes on.

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They do pollute sites and then walk away, fighting tooth and nail to avoid their responsibility to clean them up. So instead of handing out money to Boston how about they clean up the mess they left behind in the western part of the state.

Given that corporate entities have the deepest of pockets to rig the system in a manner totally beyond someone writing off their home office expenses or mortgage interest on their taxes, it's totally bogus to set up some sort of false equivalency between tax advantages some schmoe takes advantage of and what GE and other corporations do.

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So, GE has two options.

1. They can be a decent corporate citizen and give money to BPS

or

2. donate nothing to BPS

So, your reaction to them donating to BPS is to call it an asshole move on their part? They can't win. No matter what they do, you'll find some negative side to it using some twisted logic.

Yes, when anybody or any corporation donates to charity, they get a tax break. BFD. That's OK with me.

BTW, Have you written to your state reps and told them about your displeasure regarding the money they gave GE? Again, hold them accountable, not GE.

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I wonder if some of the regular commenters on this thread realize that individuals who give to charity or make "donations" get tax breaks/ credits as well. It works for everyone generally.

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BTW, Have you written to your state reps and told them about your displeasure regarding the money they gave GE? Again, hold them accountable, not GE.

If I had a dollar for every time I have done so for this issue.. I could afford to PAY GE's rent to the BRA.

Yes, when anybody or any corporation donates to charity, they get a tax break. BFD. That's OK with me.

You missed what I was trying to say... Sure they do. but GE is getting several other tax breaks, now they wanna 'donate' money to get yet another tax break?!?

GE has had enough breaks....

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Not to mention that they will pimp those donations out there for as much free advertizing and good will as they possibly can. And knowing the Mayor I'm sure he would be more than happy to declare GE-Day in the City as they hand over a Big Check to BPS or whatever.

Screw sending your elected official a nasty email, just vote them the fuck out.

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Boston is doing very well without GE.

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They are far from good corporate citizens. Massively pollute rivers then don't want to pay to clean it up? That is far from good corporate citizenship.

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They are far from good corporate citizens.

I agree, that's a fair statement for their past actions. My statement was specific to the current happenings in Boston.

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Teachers Union will just move the slider to the right by $25 mil and still complain that they need more money

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$5 million a year is nothing to sneeze at (when the kids walked out of class a few weeks ago, it was over roughly $7 million in cuts), but the GE grants, at least based on the BBJ article, are geared towards some relatively specific programs aimed at moving high-school students into the sort of workforce GE wants.

Again, nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't solve more fundamental problems in the lower grades, of the sort that, yes, teachers will complain about, in part because they're closer to them than most people.

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Like Madison Park and implemented some sort of technical program that would benefit all types of students, not just those looking to be engineers at GE.

As for the GE tax breaks, I think they are over rated. Having them here without property taxes, is better than not having them here. They bring people with them who pay a good chunk of taxes, and they are already giving to many city programs.

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That reminds me, though, I have to stop at the grocery and get a carton of a dozen chickens on the way home

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"Tacos? Public broadcasting? I won't have you kids throwing away your money like that."
Marge Simpson

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