UPDATE: After this blog post was written, Reuters issued the following statement:

Please be advised that the David Cay Johnston column published on Tuesday stating that Rupert Murdoch's U.S.-based News Corp made money on income taxes is wrong and has been withdrawn. News Corp's filings show the company changed reporting conventions in its 2007 annual report when it reversed the way it showed positive and negative numbers. A new column correcting and explaining the error in more detail will be issued shortly.

UPDATE #2: David Cay Johnston has since issued the following column explaining his error. In it, he further noted:

The other facts I reported remain:

* Among the 100 largest companies in the United States, News Corp has the third largest number of subsidiaries in tax havens, a Government Accountability Office study found in 2009.

* On an accounting basis, which measures taxes incurred but often not actually paid for years, News Corp had a tax rate of under 20 percent, little more than half the 35 percent statutory rate, its disclosures show.

* Murdoch has bought companies with tax losses and fought to be able to use them, which reduces his company's costs.

* News Corp lawyers and accountants are experts at making use of tax deferrals, though the company's net tax assets have shrunken from $5.7 billion in 2007 to $3.3 billion last year as the benefits were either used or expired.

Fox News is famous for complaining about taxes. They consistently decry what they see as President Obama's desire to “soak the rich”; they see "class warfare" against the rich almost everywhere; they consistently whine that middle- and low-income families pay no federal income tax; and they relentlessly attacked GE for not paying any federal income tax this past year, going so far as to suggest that this was somehow because GE's CEO is part of Obama's Economic Advisory Panel. But here's a story I wouldn't expect Fox to be highlighting any time soon. As it turns out, News Corp., Fox News' parent company, not only hasn't paid federal income tax in years, it reportedly received billions in tax refunds, mainly from the U.S. government.

According to Reuters' David Cay Johnston:

Over the past four years Murdoch's U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.

The relevant figure is the cash paid tax rate. This is the net amount of corporate income taxes actually paid after refunds. For those four years, it was minus 46 percent, disclosure statements show.

Even on an accounting basis, which measures taxes incurred but often not actually paid for years, News Corp. had a tax rate of under 20 percent, little more than half the 35 percent statutory rate, company disclosures examined by Reuters show.

I wonder what Fox News must think about that.

As you may recall, this past spring Fox News spent considerable time attacking GE for paying “no taxes” in 2010. Media Matters noted the hypocrisy of Fox's attack at the time, given that it was known that News Corp. hadn't paid federal taxes in at least a couple years in the past. Johnston's investigation shedding new light on News Corp.'s tax obligations (or lack thereof) elevates Fox's shameless hypocritical attacks on GE to new levels.

But more disturbing is the fact that Fox regularly attacks average Americans for not paying federal income taxes, often falsely claiming that these Americans pay no taxes at all. Their attacks range from Fox News contributor Bernie Goldberg whining that the government is “giving half the country free stuff” to various Fox figures and outlets asking if it is “fair” that “half the country doesn't pay [federal] income tax?” to Sean Hannity wondering “what incentive is there going to be for the people that are paying taxes?” to hyperventilating about the percentage of the total federal income tax collected that was paid by the “top 1 percent,” despite the fact that tax rates are the lowest they've been in about 60 years. Several Fox News hosts have questioned whether the “47 percent of Americans not paying taxes” (again, a false claim) should be allowed to vote, because, as Stuart Varney hypothesized, they could “vote for higher taxes for the other half who pays everything.” They've argued against extending unemployment benefits because, in the words of Brian Kilmeade, not doing so might “get people to sober up” and get jobs. It goes on and on and on.

Will any of this outrage be directed at News Corp.? I think we all know that the answer to that question is flatly, “No.”