CWA came after Verizon Communications again Tuesday with a vitriolic report calling the company "one of the country's most aggressive tax dodgers."

The report, authored by Citizens for Tax Justice and Good Jobs First, claims that Verizon has made extensive use of legal loopholes to avoid paying federal taxes, while at the same time demanding concessions from its workers and shelling out multi-million dollar salaries to its top executives. CWA even drew parallels between its union efforts and the Occupy Wall Street protests, saying Verizon "shifts its tax bill to the 99 percent."

CWA shied away from discussing its motives for the inflammatory report during a call with reporters this morning, but it's not difficult to speculate on why the union is targeting Verizon: The company wants its 45,000 union workers to give up an estimated $1 billion in wages and benefits.

The announcement is timed to do maximum damage to Verizon's reputation at a time when millions of Americans are struggling with poverty and unemployment, the government is deeply in debt and cuts are being made to programs like education. Missing corporate tax dollars could go towards fixing those problems. Now more than ever, the public is taking a dim view of corporate profits.

Verizon, for its part, has roundly denounced the report, with spokesman Bob Varettoni calling it "inaccurate and politically motivated."

It seems like an easy task to determine who's telling the truth here, since Verizon's finances are conveniently laid out in publically available documents filed with the SEC. Except the meaning of the numbers is anything but clear cut because each side has a different interpretation of what they mean.

For instance, take Verizon's $22.7 billion deferred tax obligation. Rebecca Wilkins with Citizens for Tax Justice characterizes it as a tax bill without a due date, a way for Verizon to indefinitely delay paying its fair share to the government. Sure, the money may actually get paid, but Wilkins says "the problem is the deferral kind of goes on forever." It would be as if you got your tax bill from the IRS and simply decided to pay it when you felt like it, she says. Citizens for Tax Justice want to see the deferral allowances, which they characterize as a tax loophole, cut back or phased out altogether.

Verizon's characterization of its deferred tax obligation is completely different. Varettoni says the vast majority - $19.5 billion - of Verizon's deferred tax liability would be taxes owed only if it sold Verizon Wireless, a highly unlikely scenario for now. The deferred tax obligation also includes depreciation deferrals stemming from its $16.5 billion 2010 infrastructure investment, a bill that must eventually be paid.

As for the negative federal tax rate alleged in the report? Verizon's annual report shows it shelled out nearly $1.8 billion in taxes to the government between 2008 and 2010. Citizens for Tax Justice maintains that the federal rate on Verizon's U.S. profits is in the negative.

Same numbers, different meaning.

Trying to determine whether Verizon really is the tax-dodging monster CWA depicts it to be quickly degenerates into a “he said, she said” argument. But assuming that at least some of the claims in the study are true and Verizon really is using loopholes to avoid paying taxes, is it really fair to single it out?

After all, Verizon is hardly the only major U.S. corporation doing its best to avoid taxes; the original study CWA's latest missive comes from lists 280 serial corporate tax dodgers, including other telecommunications companies.

As noted industry analyst Jeff Kagan points out, it doesn't appear that Verizon has done anything that's actually illegal. From Kagan’s perspective, Verizon is merely complying with capitalistic survival of the fittest: If Verizon didn’t do its best to exploit the tax code, it wouldn’t be doing its best to serve its shareholders.

“Verizon is not doing anything different than many other firms,” Kagan said in comments sent out Tuesday. “This is not just a Verizon issue. This is a tax problem.”

CWA’s report brings up huge questions about the U.S. tax code and the structure of society in general. The problem is not necessarily with Verizon in particular, it’s about the system as a whole.