Whirlpool Paid No Taxes Over The Past Three Years, Got A $64 Million Tax Refund In 2010

By Zaid Jilani

As ThinkProgress has been reporting, Main Street America’s services, investments, and jobs are under attackwhile many of the nation’s wealthiest individuals and corporations are getting away with paying little to nothing in federal income taxes. Today, BusinessWeek reports that Whirpool, the world’s largest appliance maker, has been a major tax dodger. The company had negative income tax rates over the past three years, and reported a $64 million income tax benefit last year. It expects similar results this year:

Sales at the appliance maker rose 7 percent to $18.4 billion last year after dropping during the housing slump of the previous two years. In the year-earlier quarter, the company attributed a rise in revenue to increased productivity.
Whirlpool had negative effective income tax rates in 2010, 2009 and 2008. Last year, the company reported an income tax benefit of $64 million and an effective tax rate of negative 10.9 percent, according to company filings. The company expects a similar tax benefit in 2011, corporate controller Larry Venturelli told analysts today.

Whirlpool is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Its first-quarter profits are up 3 percent as compared to last year and the company “raised its prices by between 8% and 10% [last] month to offset higher raw material costs.”