Some big U.S. companies dodge state income taxes: study

Some profitable U.S. corporations that avoid paying federal income taxes manage to do the same in states where they operate, said a study issued on Thursday by a tax activist group. From 2008 through 2012, ten U.S. companies paid no state income taxes, said the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ). Among companies named in the study were aerospace group Boeing Co, drugmaker Merck & Co Inc and industrial group Rockwell Automation Inc. Companies are increasingly making deals with state lawmakers to reduce their tax bills, said Matthew Gardner, a co-author of the report. Some states did not collect corporate taxes in the years CTJ examined, including Washington State, where Boeing was founded.