Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (65015)	7/22/1999 10:03:00 AM
From: John Dally	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Hi Michael, More evidence that there are two sets of books. No company exaggerates its profits when reporting to the IRS. From today's WSJ: CORPORATE INCOME-TAX payments drop, while corporate profits keep rising. Treasury Department figures show that quarterly tax installment payments slipped 3.7% to $38.4 billion in June from a year ago, marking the smallest June payment since 1996, says William V. Sullivan Jr., senior economist at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, New York. Softness in collections in recent months implies collections may decline for the fiscal year ending in September. That would be an "unusual development," considering the consensus view of a vigorous economy, he says. Corporate efforts to achieve a lower tax rate could be one reason for the drop, suggests James Grant, editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer. Of course, collections could easily head upward in future months, Mr. Sullivan says. But even if they do, the latest tax-payment data indicate that the revenue generation may not mirror past performance. Slippage in corporate tax payments, he adds, puts more burden on payroll tax to generate revenue.