THIS IS TOO FUNNY

WASHINGTON — Some of the big companies caught up in accounting scandals are now asking the government to refund some of their federal taxes, saying they overpaid based on the artificially inflated profits they reported.

WorldCom, Enron, Qwest Communications and HealthSouth are either pursuing or considering filing for federal tax refunds or credits for payments made on billions of dollars falsely claimed as earnings, a Senate Finance Committee aide said yesterday, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity.

The four companies — all under investigation by federal authorities — were among the biggest corporate scandals that came to light over the past year and a half.

The Senate Finance Committee chairman said yesterday he is asking federal prosecutors to move against companies seeking tax refunds because their overpayments were based on artificially inflated profits they reported. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said he will "encourage (the Justice Department) to take aggressive action against the companies and individuals who were in on the con." (full story)

What kind of an example is this? Think of the children! What will we tell them? Frankly, I'd send each and every business student in America an intern or two right now, to keep their greed, um, lustful, hehe.

This all reminds me of how Enron tried to get back the $100,000 they gave to Gray Davis after he started going after them, Duke and others for the way they gouged California. Though I wouldn't have accepted Enron money in the first place, Davis did exactly what he should have when Enron asked for that: in effect he said "T.S." In that case, if you give contributions in order to peddle influence, you run the risk of such things not working. The moral for Enron would be, "don't give Gray Davis anymore money", but of course, it was too late for they had no more money to give! In the case of the tax refund request on Enron etc's part, the same moral applies: you puff up your earnings estimates, you fuckin deal with it. Muahaha.