GE tax breaks prompt elaborate prank | Albuquerque Express

GE tax breaks prompt elaborate prank

Albuquerque Express Thursday 14th April, 2011

• Pranksters released fake announcement that GE would return billions in tax refunds

• Story picked up by major news outlets including AP and USA Today

• Prompted by news that GE paid no tax on US $5.1 billion in earnings

General Electric (GE) and the international media have fallen victim to a hoax carried out by a US group of anti-corporate activists that use pranks to make political points.

The Yes Men targeted GE after it was revealed that the multinational conglomerate had paid no income tax on its US $5.1 billion in US profits for 2010 and had indeed received a US $3.2 billion tax refund in a time of mounting government deficits.

The news prompted fresh calls from some sectors for corporate tax cuts to be abolished, which the Yes Man capitalised on in producing and releasing a press release supposedly written by GE.

The fake release announced that GE would return its US $3.2 billion tax refund to the US Treasury in order to assist the ailing jobs economy.

Complete with a GE logo, links to a mock up of the GE Web site and quotes from CEO Jeffrey Immelt, the press release was picked up by several US media houses, including USA Today and the Associated Press.

“We want the public to know that we’ve heard them, and that we know many Americans are going through tough times,” GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt was quoted as saying in the release. “GE will therefore give our 2010 tax refund back to the public and allow the public to decide how to spend it.

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