Deck 2: The Artful Dodgers Morton Mintz

Question 1

Despite the 1986 Tax Reform Act, corporate tax-sheltering has "run amuck", according to McIntyre.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The 1986 Tax Reform Act assured that corporate tax-dodging would be held in check.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

American corporate taxes have since 2001.

A) increased
B) stayed the same
C) decreased

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Describe the advantages big corporations have over individuals in sheltering their income from taxes.

Question 5

If U.S. corporations paid the same effective tax rate now that they paid in the 1950's, corporate tax payments to the U.S. Treasury would be than they actually are.

A) $500 billion
B) $380 billion higher
C) $400 million higher
D) $400 million lower

Question 6

Corporate tax-dodging is a relatively recent phenomenon in the U.S. For example, as recently as the 1950's, corporate taxes paid for about a third of the federal government.

Question 7

What advantages do big corporations have over individuals in sheltering their income from tax?

A) They have tremendous lobbying power in Congress, which enables them to get special tax concessions enacted that ordinary citizens could not.
B) Unlike individuals, corporations can break themselves into different entities on paper and treat phony, non- existent transactions among those entities as if they actually happened.
C) The 1986 Tax Reform Act freed corporations from paying any state income taxes.
D) a and b above

Question 8

Which of the following reasons are given by McIntyre to explain why the 1986 Tax Reform Act has failed to have a lasting effect?

A) New tax loopholes were enacted.
B) New tax-dodging schemes were discovered
C) Tax reform laws were insufficiently enforced.
D) all of the above

Question 9

What did Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes mean when he said taxes are "the price of civilization"?

Question 10

From 2001 to 2003, American companies such as Toys "R" Us avoided paying state income taxes on nearly two-thirds of their U.S. profits, resulting in a cost to state governments of $42 billion.

Question 11

Why is it easier for big corporations to cheat on their taxes than individuals who earn almost all of their money from wages?

Question 12

Which law was enacted to reform the nation's tax laws?

A) 1987 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act
B) 1986 Tax Reform Act
C) Citizens for Tax Justice Law of 2002
D) Yukos-Mordovia Reform Act of 1989

Question 13

Due to tax reform efforts in the U.S., federal and state corporate income taxes amount to an ever- increasing percentage of our GDP.