Star-Ledger Editorial Board Wags Collective Finger at EA over Taxes

The New Jersey Star-Ledger newspaper has a rather strongly-worded editorial about what they see as EA's over-manipulation of the United States Tax code. The op-ed piece, a response to the New York Times piece on Sunday that basically outed EA for its practices, calls on the U.S. government to end "unfair tax breaks" for big corporations and to offer those incentives to smaller, more-deserving start-ups. The piece also pokes fun at what EA does as a business, saying that EA knows how to manipulate the system enough to be a pro at its own game called "Tax Break Empire."

That sounds like a boring game to me... But the Star-Ledger Editorial Board goes on to say that taxpayers forfeit billions to corporations for these kinds of lucrative incentives from the federal government every year. The article closes by saying that in the midst of massive budget deficit, businesses need to understand that the country can't afford "tax loopholes and undeserved subsidies."

You can read the whole thing here. While the focus of the article is on EA (for obvious reasons) it's clear that the author(s) thinks plenty of other big corporations are engaging in the same kinds of practices. The real question is, is it wrong for a company like EA to take advantage of a system that is clearly meant to benefit corporations with smart lawyers and tax experts?

Source: Star-Ledger