Report: Fox's Massive Dominion Settlement Is Tax Deductible
Nikki McCann Ramirez Rolling Stone
Headlines scroll at the Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. headquarters in the Manhattan borough in New York, April 19, 2023. (photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP)
The company could write off a large portion of its $787.5 million settlement it owes Dominion as an income tax deduction
According to a report from Lever News, Fox News could potentially write off a massive portion of the $787.5 million settlement it has agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems as a tax deduction.
Fox Corporation’s Chief Communications Officer Brian Nick, confirmed to Lever News on Wednesday that he could “confirm tax deductibility,” of the settlement, “but not the amount.”
According to a review by Lever, the company could deduct up to $213 million from their income taxes under provisions in the American tax code that allow companies to write off legal bills as “ordinary and necessary” business expenses. Since the dispute was settled between two companies, and not with the government, Fox can claim tax benefits on the payment
Fox agreed to the massive settlement with Dominion on Tuesday, in a last-minute waving of the white flag that spared the network the ordeal of an extremely public defamation trial. Dominion had sued Fox for $1.6 billion after the network repeatedly aired false claims about the voting-machine company rigging the 2020 presidential election.
The trial would have seen the network at a severe disadvantage. In a pre-trial ruling, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis established in a summary judgment that it was “CRYSTAL clear” that “none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true,” and that Fox had spread false claims about the company. Only the question of whether Fox had acted with malice would have proceeded to the jury.
Despite the magnitude of the settlement and the public scrutiny placed on the network in the course of the lawsuit’s evidentiary phase, Fox remains defiant. In a statement addressing an ongoing, separate suit brought by voting software company Smartmatic, the network defended its coverage of the 2020 election, stating that they “will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025.”
“Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms,” the network added. While their face-off with Smartmatic constitutes a separate suit, Fox’s attempts to claim First Amendment protections in the Dominion lawsuit were dismissed.
On Fox’s televised programming things are largely business as usual. Following news of the settlement, primetime hosts Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity — all figures who were implicated in Dominion’s case against Fox — were spared from explaining to viewers how their false claims cost the favorite network more than a billion dollars.
