CorporateTaxes

It's widely known that millionaires and billionaires pay taxes at a lower rate than those of us who make much less. But did you know that Americans collectively pay far higher income tax rates than many U.S. companies with billions of dollars in profits?

Thirty large American corporations -- all of them profitable -- spent more money on lobbying than they paid in federal taxes from 2008 to 2010, according to a report from the nonpartisan reform group Public Campaign.

With the 2012 election season looming, the retail sector is getting vocally political for the first time. The National Retail Federation has launched "Retail Means Jobs," a year-long, $10 million advocacy campaign designed to push for retail-friendly policies in Washington.

Twenty five CEOs of America's top companies earned more money than their companies paid in taxes last year, according to the Institute for Policy Studies' Executive Excess report. See which firms and CEOs made the list.

Some Street-related dispatches from last week's entry in the Human Comedy: Kim Kardashian filed a silly sounding but well-grounded lawsuit against Old Navy's use of a lookalike; gaming magnate Steve Wynn went all FOXNews on a conference call; and Barnes and Noble surged, nonsensically, on Borders' liquidation.

By accounts, last night's State of the Union address was one of the more inspirational, optimistic speeches given by President Obama. (There were no boos or nasty shout-outs, as in speeches past). But what does all the rhetoric (62 minutes' worth) mean to you and your future? Here's some of what...

For most of us, the stress of filing our income tax return is subsiding and we can get on with the usual business of figuring out how to pay our regular monthly bills. But what will surely continue beyond tax day is the strange co-opting of the Boston Tea Party by the anti-tax Tea Party...

The Iowa Progress Project, a conservative group which lobbies for consumer's rights, started running a radio advertisement last week about "corporate welfare." The impetus for the ad was an announcement that Microsoft is creating 50 new jobs in Iowa by locating a new data center there. The state is...