(Host) Washington is gearing up for another series of debates about spending.
And Senator Bernie Sanders is joining the fray. He says there are too many large, multi-national companies that have used the tax code to avoid any tax liability.
(Sanders) "So if you’re a working stiff, making $30,000, $40,000 a year, you’re paying taxes. But if you’re Chevron, you made $10 billion in profits in 2009, you don’t have to pay any taxes. You get a $19 million refund."
(Host) Sanders went to the Senate floor this morning to detail what he calls his "top ten" list of large corporations that paid little or no taxes.
Chevron was one of his examples. Sanders says Chevron got a refund despite its large profit.
Among the other companies that made his list were Exxon-Mobil, Bank of America, General Electric and Goldman Sachs.
Sanders says it doesn’t make sense that large corporations like those get refunds when Congress votes to reduce spending on social programs.
(Sanders) "Maybe we have to reduce that deficit not simply on the backs of working families, low income people, the children, the sick, the elderly. Maybe, maybe we might want to call for shared sacrifice. Maybe Exxon-Mobil and some of the large oil companies might be asked to pay something in taxes."