Some of the government’s largest contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which rake in billions of federal dollars each year, are also receiving tax credits, bailouts and federal grants—all at the taxpayers’ expense.
That’s according to a new study by the nonprofit research center Good Jobs First, which tracks the more than 160,000 companies benefiting from billions of dollars of federal subsidies each year.
Related: Pentagon Has No Idea What 108,000 Contractors Are Doing
The study, which bills itself as “the first comprehensive compilation of company-specific federal subsidy data,” revealed that about two-thirds of the total $68 billion the federal government gives out in grants and tax credits went to large corporations—many that also do business with the government.
The government pays federal contractors about $400 billion a year for goods and services, but apparently that’s not where the money stops. The group’s subsidy tracker found that at least 49 of the biggest federal contractors are also receiving grants and tax credits, while 30 are receiving loans or bailouts—two dozen are getting both.
The study found that General Electric –receives the most grants and tax credits—about $836 million, with most of that money coming from the Pentagon and the Department of Energy.
Separately, Boeing was dubbed the “double dipper” for receiving the most in loans and loan guarantees.
The company’s “more than $18 billion in fiscal 2014 contract awards, combined with the $457 million in federal grants and $64 billion in federal loans and loan guarantees since 2000, make it exceptionally favored by Uncle Sam,” the report said.
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