Notes from the Economy: Prices, Earnings, Unemployment Claims The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released data for inflation and real earnings this morning, while the Labor Department reported on unemployment insurance claims for the past week.

What We Can Say and What We Can't The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report today showing that an average of two-thirds of companies operating in the United States paid no federal corporate income tax from 1998 - 2005. That's right, I said none. Zip. Zero. Nada. The report was requested by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Carl Levin (D-MI) as a follow up to a similar report GAO did in 2004 in which they found similar levels of tax liability reported on corporate tax returns from 1996 through 2000. In fact, in 2004, GAO found that domestically controlled companies and foreign controlled companies "reported tax liabilities of less than 5 percent of their total income, an estimated 94 percent and 89 percent, respectively, in 2000." Wow. Upwards of 90 percent of companies paid at most 5 percent in federal income taxes in 2000, despite the corporate income tax rate being 35 percent. While you digest that little tidbit (or maybe choke on it), let me tell you about transfer pricing, which is at the heart of these GAO reports and a long time thorn in the side of Sens. Dorgan and Levin, who I guess think corporations should pay taxes.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their monthly budget review this morning. CBO Director Peter Orszag blogged on the release of the review on the CBO Director's Blog:

Writing in the New York Times, Stephanie Strom brings yet another instance of how corporations and their enabling political benefactors have clearly had their way with the tax code.