AJC wrong about corporate tax rules
Once again, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution demonstrates its lack of knowledge and liberal bias on the tax impact of stock awards (“Execs’ stock awards cut companies’ taxes,” News, Dec. 1). If you had done your research and really wanted the reader to know the facts, you would have learned that the company can only deduct the amounts it actually reports on the executive’s W-2 form. And by doing so, with the current federal tax rates, the executive ends up paying a higher tax rate on that income than the company would, had it not taken the deduction.
The U.S. Treasury is taking in more taxes as a result of these awards, not less. Your premise that companies use tax dollars to fund these awards is false. And while the company tax rate can decline slightly from this deduction, you imply it has a material impact on its overall tax rate. It does not. You also insinuate that companies are being misleading in having different treatments for shareholder reporting and for tax purposes. If you had someone on staff who understood financial and tax reporting, you would know the company is only following the rules set out for it by regulators, the FASB and SEC for financial reporting and the IRS for taxes.
LEW BELOTE, ALPHARETTA
Execs are taxed on stock awards
Your Dec. 1 story on tax cuts created by stock awards misleads. Perhaps we can forgive you since most of your information appears to come from Citizens for Tax Justice, which is much more than just “left-leaning.” While it’s true companies receive a tax deduction for these awards, you only get around to mentioning a very key fact toward the end of your article: That is, the executives are taxable on stock awards.
And what you don’t mention, because you may not know or Citizens for Tax Justice may have conveniently failed to tell you, is the executives are taxable in the same year and in the same amount as the tax deduction received by the company. And the executives are taxed at full, ordinary tax rates. What all of this means is that the government collects much more taxes from the executives than the companies’ tax breaks amount to. No defense of some executive pay packages here, but the income tax treatment of both companies and their executives is fair and balanced.
LYNN OLIVER, CUMMING
Taser could have averted shooting
Did Darren Wilson carry a Taser and, if so, why didn’t he use it against Michael Brown instead of his gun? Wilson could have tased Brown in the initial confrontation, thus knocking him to the ground and allowing him to get out of his police car and also call for additional help to subdue the kid. It probably also would have kept the kid from running away, and the end result might have been a non-lethal arrest. Our local police use Tasers to subdue belligerent individuals. Did the Ferguson police have any Tasers, or were they unavailable due to lack of local funding for such items? Maybe this is something all law enforcement agents need to seriously think about.
CHARLES TATTER, MARIETTA
