NO NEW TAXES

Timing is everything, and with the recent Occupy (enter your city name here) protests, this recent revelation couldn't have asked for better timing.

The groups Citizens for Tax Justice and the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy have released a report with the names of 280 companies, including 30 based here in the Bay Area, that have either not paid any tax or paid less than the 35% corporate tax rate.

One company, PG&E, who paid no taxes on profits of $4.85 billion, with an additional $1 billion in tax breaks over the three-year period, had this response:

"This goes back to measures to stimulate the economy, allowing for accelerated depreciation to encourage investment," said Brian Herzog, a spokesman for PG&E. "We used the money to make large-scale capital investments in infrastructure, as Congress intended . . .

. . . And we're able to use those tax savings instead of raising money in the capital markets, the costs of which would generally be passed along to consumers"

Oh, that is rich, considering they've been trying to pass on the costs of San Bruno pipeline blast on to consumers. They've also been caught using recycled metal on other pipelines throughout the state.