Yum Brands Avoided State Taxes Despite Record Profits

A comprehensive study on corporate tax avoidance finds that Louisville-based Yum Brands paid no net corporate income taxes to states over the past three years despite colossal profits over $1 billion.The report was compiled by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens for Tax Justice and lists 68 companies that paid no state corporate income tax. It show Yum Brands, which is the parent company of fast food giants Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bill, had a tax rate of negative 2 percent in 2008, 0.3 percent in 2009 and 0.9 percent in 2010."Our report shows these corporations raked in a combined $1.33 trillion in profits in the last three years, and far too many have managed to shelter half or more of their profits from state taxes. They're so busy avoiding taxes, it's no wonder they're not creating any new jobs," Matthew Gardner, Executive Director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy told the Sacramento Bee.Other Fortune 500 companies in Kentucky, including Louisville-based Humana Inc. and Kindred Healthcare, paid a three-year tax rate of less than four percent. The state budget receives around $300 million from corporate income taxes.