The Company That Ran The ‘Cruise From Hell’ Pays Almost No Income Tax

Carnival’s “cruise from hell” — during which the ship lost power off the Yucatan peninsula and was stuck for days, leaving passengers no recourse to relieving themselves in plastic bags — finally ended last night as the crippled boat was tugged into port. “It was horrible. Horrible,” one passenger said. “The bathroom facilities were horrible and we could not flush toilets. No electricity and our rooms were in total darkness.”

Carnival will be refunding money to the passengers of the ill-fated cruise and offering them a free trip in the future. (“This is my first and last cruise. So if anyone wants my free cruise, look me up,” one passenger said.) But one entity to which Carnival has not been giving any money is the national treasury — as the New York Times’ David Leonhardt reported, the company has paid just a 1.1 percent rate on 11.3 billion in profits over the last five years:

The Carnival Corporation wouldn’t have much of a business without help from various branches of the government. The United States Coast Guard keeps the seas safe for Carnival’s cruise ships. Customs officers make it possible for Carnival cruises to travel to other countries. State and local governments have built roads and bridges leading up to the ports where Carnival’s ships dock.

But Carnival’s biggest government benefit of all may be the price it pays for many of those services. Over the last five years, the company has paid total corporate taxes — federal, state, local and foreign — equal to only 1.1 percent of its cumulative $11.3 billion in profits. Thanks to an obscure loophole in the tax code, Carnival can legally avoid most taxes.

Carnival uses a tax loophole that allows companies incorporated overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, even if the bulk of their operations are based in the states. Between 2008 and 2011, 26 major corporations in the U.S. managed to pay no income tax, despite making $205 billion in pre-tax profits. (HT: Teamster Nation)

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Almost Two-Thirds Of Older Workers Plan To Delay Retirement

While the richest Americans have fared well during the sluggish economic recovery, most Americans continue to struggle with falling wages and job uncertainty. According to a new report from the Conference Board, 62 percent of workers between 45 and 60 plan to delay their retirements, a stark jump from 2010 when 42 percent of workers planned a delay.

Job loss, financial loss, and a lower salary caused many workers to reshape their future plans:

Right now, more than half of middle class workers are expected to outlive their retirement savings, as pension plans have declined dramatically. Unfortunately, Republicans’ answer to the financial difficulties for two-thirds of Americans has been to propose raising Social Security and Medicare eligibility to age 70.

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Romney/RNC almost catches up with Obama/DNC in April.

The New York Times reported this morning that the combined raised total for Romney and the RNC was $40.1 million in April, with Romney having $61.4 million in the bank: in comparison, Obama/the DNC raised $43.6 million. Barack Obama’s own cash on hand for April – it was $104.1 million at the end of March – and we probably won’t be told it until the Sunday deadline, or possibly a little later than that. Though, to be fair, Romney and the RNC haven’t submitted their latest fundraising reports to the FEC, either.

Also: while I give points to the NYT for mentioning that this was a significant jump from Romney’s March haul of $12.6 million, they might have kept comparing apples-to-apples and included the RNC’s March fundraising total ($13.7 million). Or noted that the Democrats’ $43.6 million number for April represents a drop from March’s $53 million. Then again, I suppose that there’s a narrative in place.

The real question, of course, is just how much any of this means. Answer: thanks to the latest round of campaign finance reform, not as much as it would have in 2008. Romney and the RNC having this money is good, because it’ll fund infrastructure, campaign worker payrolls, GOTV efforts, and everything else you need to apply a force multiplier to local/grassroots efforts. And they’ll have the money to get the specific message that they want out. But, thanks to the Citizens United case, groups with an interest in the election have a much larger opportunity to have their voices heard, this cycle. Given that the central message this election will be Are you better off now than you were… heck, last month? you can imagine how much this upsets the Democratic party, despite the fact that nobody’s stopping them from likewise grabbing a microphone and singing out.

One last note: I don’t like lumping Romney and the RNC together like this, because it implies that the relationship between the two is essentially identical to that of Obama to the DNC. Which is false. Romney does not control the RNC the way that Obama owns the DNC; obviously the RNC will be working with the candidate, and naturally the Presidential race is the big one this year. But there are still House and Senate races for the national committee’s consideration. I note this because the DCCC and DSCC have been already told that there’s no DNC money for them*, and they are not happy about it…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

(H/T: @RyanGOP)

*In contrast, the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC have created an interlocking support network for the three national committees, including financial assistance when necessary.

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