From the Weekly Standard, a possible explanation of why GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt is tightly linked to Barack Obama.

Excerpt:

General Electric, one of the largest corporations in America, filed a whopping 57,000-page federal tax return earlier this year but didn’t pay taxes on $14 billion in profits. The return, which was filed electronically, would have been 19 feet high if printed out and stacked.

The fact that GE paid no taxes in 2010 was widely reported earlier this year, but the size of its tax return first came to light when House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) made the case for corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting. “GE was able to utilize all of these various loopholes, all of these various deductions–it’s legal,” Ryan said. Nine billion dollars of GE’s profits came overseas, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. tax law. GE wasn’t taxed on $5 billion in U.S. profits because it utilized numerous deductions and tax credits, including tax breaks for investments in low-income housing, green energy, research and development, as well as depreciation of property.

“I asked the GE tax officer, ‘How long was your tax form?'” Ryan said. “He said, ‘Well, we file electronically, we don’t measure in pages.'” Ryan asked for an estimate, which came back at a stunning 57,000 pages. When Ryan relayed the story at the townhall meeting in Janesville, there were audible gasps from the crowd.

Meanwhile, Obama’s General Motors bailout is going to cost taxpayers at least $23.6 billion dollars.

Excerpt:

The Treasury Department dramatically boosted its estimate of losses from its $85 billion auto industry bailout by more than $9 billion in the face of General Motors Co.’s steep stock decline.

In its monthly report to Congress, the Treasury Department now says it expects to lose $23.6 billion, up from its previous estimate of $14.33 billion.

The Treasury now pegs the cost of the bailout of GM, Chrysler Group LLC and the auto finance companies at $79.6 billion. It no longer includes $5 billion it set aside to guarantee payments to auto suppliers in 2009.

Obama’s millionaires and billionaires get another bailout and taxpayers get the bill.

Related posts

• Obama urged Solyndra to delay layoff announcements until after 2010 elections
• Obama fundraisers got 80% of green energy loans ($16.4 billion)
• Obama gave $443 million no-bid contract to drug firm run by Democrat fundraiser
• E-mails reveal that Obama fundraiser discussed Solyndra loan with White House
• Another green energy firm goes bankrupt after getting $43 million loan from taxpayers
• E-mails show that Democrats were about to approve a second loan to Solyndra
• Report finds Labor Department’s green jobs program failing
• $737 million green jobs loan given to Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law
• This one graph should end the debate on wind and solar energy
• Obama to conduct campaign fundraiser with wind power stimulus recipient
• How well did Obama’s green jobs spending work out for taxpayers?
• Obama administration knew $535 million Solyndra loan was too risky
• Obama administration reworked Solyndra loan to favor private donors
• Solyndra CEO and CFO will refuse to answer questions in Congressional hearing
• Marsha Blackburn beats up Al Gore on cap and trade corruption