The same outlets that publish those headlines also publish ones like “Company XYZ made billions in revenue and paid zero in taxes”, completely glossing over payroll tax, deferred losses, and credits for capital investment.
Payroll tax is paid by employers on behalf of their employees. That is, it is the employees money that pays the tax - not the employers. VAT works similarly.
There’s two halves to payroll tax. One paid by the employee that is deducted from their paycheck. The other is paid by the employer and counts as an expense against revenue.
Employees do not get to deduct the second half from their taxes. It’s considered to be paid by their employers.
This one makes me so mad, because it's always some ignoramus comparing taxes with revenue and ignoring the fact that if the company paid zero taxes then most or all of that revenue was ploughed back into the local economy. Jobs, construction, equipment, etc. all mean that cash lands on everyone, and then people swallow the spin and complain about it.
Now, if they were making billions in profit and paying zero taxes then that's different.
> Now, if they were making billions in profit and paying zero taxes then that's different.
Some companies are, and are very clever in hiding that (offshoring profits, etc.).
Other companies (and their boards apparently) are content with "merely" overcompensating their executives, who then have their own teams of accountants and lawyers to avoid paying taxes. The companies themselves aren't running much profit, on the promise of a better stock price and future growth. In some cases this is legitimate because they are indeed investing in their own infrastructure or intellectual property.