Wal-Mart: Low Values

Wal-Mart Rips Off Taxpayers By Paying Rent to Itself

"In a breaking story today, the Wall Street Journal ($) reports that Wal-Mart has been setting up shell companies to purchase property through a REIT investment vehicle, then renting those buildings to Wal-Mart stores-- allowing the company to deduct the cost of the rent from state taxes in twenty-five states.

This is just part of the tax loophole strategies used by Wal-Mart that allows it to pay half of the statutory state tax rates over the last decade. The REIT strategy alone cut Wal-Mart's state taxes by $350 million, or about 20% of its tax bill, over one four-year period."