It’s the day after tax day, and while many of us may be cringing at the big checks we just wrote the IRS or celebrating our refunds, Duke Energy isn’t paying federal income taxes for the fifth year in a row. After its merger with Progress Energy, North Carolina based Duke Energy is the nation’s largest utility company and raked in more than $1 billion in profits last year.
Duke is using the deferral process to avoid paying taxes, which should have been $627 million. Instead it actually received a rebate of $46 million. Interesting timing since Duke Energy is also planning customer rate hikes to pay for investments in coal and nuclear energy.
When giant utility corporations like Duke Energy rake in mega profits and contribute massively to carbon emissions, the rest of us have to deal with health, economic and social impacts of devastating climate change while also paying our federal and state taxes.
