jeffrey immelt has informed the obama administration that the company will be gifty in its entirety twenty ten tax refund or three point two billion dollars to the u.s. treasury on april eighteenth tax day and will furthermore adopt a host of new policies and secure its position as a leader in corporate social responsibility g then denied it authored the press release and the associated press admitted fault in claiming that it was authentic when it reported the story on the heels of the press release g.e. stock fell eight cents today so to g.e. get what it deserved and should progressive's keep pouring into joining me now are two of the people behind today's cokes and are boyd and justin whereas from the u.s. uncut andrew and justin welcome to the program. thank you very much good to be here great to see you guys i actually this morning before i got up a little better i was six thirty or seven in the morning i was reading the a.p. news and i thought and there was the story from g.e. and i almost forward it to my producers go and they look to those who had to do this. or that let me check t

ge ceo jeffrey immelt has been under fire ever since it was reported last week that ge paid no federal taxes in 2010. we caught up with him this afternoon. speaking with business leaders this afternoon, ge ceo jeff immelt explained why his company paid zero federal taxes in 2010. >> we lost $32 billion in ge capital as a result of the global financial crisis. >> reporter: ge's investment arm did lose money. but ge overall made billions, as we pointed out afterwards. overall, you did, ge made money last year, even if ge capital lost money. right? overall, you made $14 billion. so, i think -- >> we didn't make a lot of that in the u.s. our tax rate will go up. we had a lot of losses at ge capital. and over time, our tax rate -- we paid a lot of taxes over the last five or ten years. >> reporter: if ge paid at the same tax rate of the average american taxpayer, 18%, the company would have added $2.3 billion to the treasury instead of zero. ge even got more than $3 billion in tax benefits. >> that is a corporate tax rate of, hold on, $3.2 billion -- negative 60%. >> reporter: what ge did w

jeffrey immelt is on the president's commission on job creation and there's big news here i mean i don't i don't understand i wouldn't be outraged that g.e. for maximizing their profits and if you have to go abroad and you have to go abroad i would be outraged at the president who is rewarding this kind of this but it is not it doesn't insult him received thirty years that we're going to start here is the same hope there is no idea because of reaganomics you know i would be an honest on a panel at that top notch operation and not create it happen in fact had jobs been deployed overseas and i don't think that's i think considering that the massive tax cuts that he got i would like to think that maybe we think people rewards for creating jobs not for a top young want to be on their making list of rage that are people who are. just going to say you know our laws have been bought our politicians are paid off and i don't see any resolution to this and over the short term until we fix that any a wednesday was the one year anniversary of the b.p. oil spill today was still washing ashore on the

jeffrey immelt is on reprise events the commission on job creation on this because i mean i don't i don't understand i wouldn't be outraged at g.e. for maximizing their profits and if you have to go abroad and you have to go abroad i would be average of the president who is rewarding this kind of this but is i don't i saw him receive thirty years or are you going to start here is the same hope is that the idea because of reaganomics you're already in this town of can i add that top notch operation into not creating jobs but in fact how jobs spend whatever scenes are and i would say that's a considering that the massive tax cuts that he would like to think that maybe we think people are creating jobs not very choppy waters with the they're making with the road rage that are people who are. going to say you know our laws have been bought our politicians are paid off and i don't see any resolution to this and over the short term until we fix that any a wednesday was the one year anniversary of the b.p. oil spill today or oil is still washing ashore on the beaches of the gulf coast despite th

this week, jeffrey immelt. an issue. president's adviser, allegedly having paid no tax and made billions of dollars. in profits, the company. it was okay. he took advantage of the system. is it right? does that need to be conformed? g.e.? >> it's an old axiom that is what is alarming in washington is not what's done that is illegal but what is done that's legal. no one is accusing g.e. of doing anything other than taking advantage of the tax code we have over time. wouldn't it be wonderful if we had tax code that looks as if someone designed it on purpose. according to investor's business daily, 975 people work in the tax department of g.e., just trying to mine the tax code for advantage. >> that stinks. >> it doesn't look good, though, does it? the optics of this? >> i have to say obama has a pretty bad record now. he picked allen simpson to head the debt commission. he made strange remarks. he picked the head of a corporation managing to not pay any taxes. we do need tax reform. but the biggest obstacle to tax reform r

he got best buddies with jeffrey immelt of general lech particular which turned out hadn't paid any taxes so democratses are saying wait a minute, who is this guy. and all of a sudden, he revealed himself to be a democrat. to be president of the united states and a democrat and to make a compelling, strong case against the ryan plan which republicans, not a single democrat, voted for it today in the house, as it passed. and i think he drew the lines very dramatically. i mean it's not a question of taxes. the question is who pays the taxes. and he certainly stands in the line from harry truman forward, lyndon johnson or somebody who believes in medicare. republicans don't forget, it's been an article-- they are opposition to national health insurance, except when it involves republican members of congress. >> lehrer: other than that. >> he did rally the left. i mean, the speech was strong in rallying the left as mark said. he called republicans unamerican. that tendses to rally people, i guess when you call their opponents unamerican. but you know, substantively it still still does matter.

host: jeffrey immelt spoke at the economic club. here is the headline.ext, as we ask the question should government lawmakers risk a shutdown as they get closer to the deadline to the expiration of the continuing federal spending resolution. dallas, texas. roger is an independent. you are on the air. caller: yes, good morning. i would like to ask the democratic callers calling into the show -- if they don't want to cut the budget now, when do they want to cut it? next year's budget, the one after that? when? we have a $1.50 trillion deficit. that cannot be sustained. we have to go out and borrow that money on the world market. sunday the world is going to say that they -- someday the world is going to say they do not want to loan us the money anymore and the kind of changes that will happen to this country in a situation like that is far worse than a managed reduction of the debt we are trying to do right now. my suggestion is to cut the budget across the board. a cut everest -- federal spending program by an equal amount. that is the only way -- the pro

jeffrey m.l. as a key adviser to the economy? -- immelt as a key adviser to the economy? guest: i respect the president's decision, of course. host: next phone call from new mexico. don. caller: the richest 400 families in the country make on average $435 million each. what is their effective tax rate? guest: i think it is 38%. if your point is -- caller: their effective tax rate is 16.4%. the richest to not pay income tax. they pay capital gains and dividends. guest: assuming that they make it in the way that you're describing. go on to theet's next. john paulson, who has a hedge fund. he has a hedge fund called paulson & paulson. last year, he made $5 billion. because his hedge fund pays on carried interest, his effective tax rate is 15%. so my question to you is, the previous legislator who was on said we cannot tax our way out of this situation, yet, what we see is the richest americans in this country pay on capital gains and dividends but do not pay on earned income. what would be the effect -- and i am just asking about the effect of these rich americans paying cap