What Fiscal Cliff? U.S. Investors Already Dodged $6 Billion In Fiscal Cliff-Related Taxes

For all of the noise they make about the federal budget deficit, U.S. companies are not exactly doing much to help, according to HuffPo.

In fact, many of them have been making the problem worse in recent weeks by quickly shoveling cash to investors to take advantage of low tax rates before they rise, potentially costing the government billions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue. All told, companies so far have given shareholders roughly $24.2 billion in special or early dividend payments, potentially saving those shareholders -- and costing the government -- $6 billion or more in taxes, according to data compiled by data tracker Markit and The Huffington Post.

So far, 144 publicly traded U.S. companies have announced special one-time dividends to give cash to shareholders before an expected increase in the dividend tax rate next year, amounting to $21.4 billion, according to Markit.  In addition to those special dividends, several companies have gone ahead and already paid dividends previously scheduled for next year,….

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/early-dividends-tax-revenue_n_2237581.html