GE tax breaks prompt elaborate prank

Albuquerque Express Thursday 14th April, 2011

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.

“Americans have made it clear that they deplore laws that enable tax avoidance. While we owe it to our shareholders to use every legal loophole to maximize returns — we also owe something to the American people.”

The Associated Press have since apologised for falling for the prank, while USA Today promptly removed the story once the prank was revealed, they then replaced that story with another reporting on the AP’s gaffe.

The affiliated advocacy group US Uncut has said that the Yes Men’s prank is an example of how the world could work, if social responsibility values were adopted by major corporations.