Duke Energy suffered a major pollution problem on February 9, 2014, when approximately 35,000,000 gallons of toxic coal slurry leaked into the Dan River near Eden, NC. Three weeks later, a second leak began pouring arsenic-laced wastewater into the same river. Now some 70 miles of that river is caked with toxic coal ash.
Duke has 33 more lagoons storing coal ash in 14 sites it North Carolina. Duke estimates the cost to clean up all this pollution will exceed one billion dollars.
Profit: The money remaining from the sale of goods or services after all the expenses, debts and taxes associated with the operation have been paid.
“Capitalism: Servant or Master?” P. 71. When corporations say they could reduce pollution but that would mean higher prices for us, that seems to imply these problems are really our fault – we would rather have the pollution and be poisoned, and get sick and suffer medically, and pay medical bills than pay higher prices for the products they want to sell us. Does it actually make no difference to them? Not really. If they paid the full costs of their production a truer picture of what people are buying would be available to everyone. While prices would rise for consumers of the item, the profits might also shrink for the shareholders and corporate officers. That would reduce capital available to the company. Some shareholders might move their investments to other companies. Some mutual funds would automatically switch to other companies through computer programming procedures.
http://myfox8.com/2014/02/26/duke-energy-not-required-to-pay-federal-income-taxes-for-past-5-years/
Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington D.C. says big-profit companies are using “loopholes and tax breaks” to avoid paying a single penny in federal income taxes.
The report includes Duke Energy on a list of 26 Fortune 500 companies that have not paid any federal income taxes in five years.
“Duke Energy had a tax rate of a negative 3.5 percent which means they actually got refunds back from the IRS,” pointed out Rebecca Wilkins with Citizens for Tax Justice.
Duke Energy has made more than $9 billion in profits since 2008, according to the report.
