Although the corporation made over $14 billion in profits, $5 billion of which was made in the US, GE paid no taxes last year. Check out what White House correspondent Jake Tapper had to say when ABC News asked him about GE's tax rate.
CARNEY: I hope so. But the -- look, I -- Jake, I'll just tell you, I don't know about this specific company's balance sheet or its tax returns.
TAPPER: Front page of The New York Times.
CARNEY: But I -- but I can -- I've read the story. I'm saying I don't have my own assessment to make of it.
But what I will tell you is that the president has said that he is committed to corporate tax reform, and he wants to do that because it will improve our competitiveness. And he believes that one of the ways to do that -- the way to do it is to -- you can lower the rate if you and still bring in the necessary revenue if you remove a lot of the loopholes and other aspects of it that make it complicated, that give companies fits and also make us less competitive in the process. So he's committed to corporate tax reform because it's right for growth, it's right for job creation. And, you know, he will have that conversation going forward.
TAPPER: Does it bother him?
CARNEY: I haven't spoken to the president about this, but he is bothered by what I think you're getting at, which is that Americans, I'm sure, who read that story or heard about it are wondering, you know -- you know, how this could be.
And one of the reasons why it could be -- again, not addressing a specific company, because I don't know independently about that, but it is part of the problem of the corporate tax structure that companies hire, you know, armies of tax lawyers to understand how it works and to take advantage of the various loopholes that exist, that are legal, in order to reduce their tax burden. And he thinks that in the name -- for the purpose of greater competitiveness and job creation, we have to address our corporate tax structure.