New York (CNN Business) FedEx CEO Fred Smith attacked the New York Times for its story about his company's taxes, and he challenged the newspaper's publisher.

FedEx's FDX The Times on Sunday ran a front-page story, " How FedEx Cut Its Tax Bill to $0 ," in which it said thatwork in favor of the 2017 corporate tax cut allowed the delivery company to eliminate its federal taxes the following year. The story said the tax cut did not result in increased investment by either FedEx or businesses overall, as Smith and other advocates of the tax bill vowed would happen if it passed.

FedEx CEO Fred Smith, would like to have a public debate with the publisher of the NY Times.

Smith issued a statement calling the article "distorted and factually incorrect," although he did not detail what in the story was inaccurate. FedEx reported its total income taxes were $1.6 billion in the fiscal year ending May 31, 2017, but it had a negative income tax bill, or a credit, of $219 million in the fiscal year ending May of 2018. Its most recent fiscal year reported income taxes of $115 million.

Although companies complaining about critical news coverage isn't unusual, Smith's response was unique.

"I hereby challenge A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times and the business section editor to a public debate in Washington, DC, with me and the FedEx corporate vice president of tax," he wrote . "The focus of the debate should be federal tax policy and the relative societal benefits of business investments and the enormous intended benefits to the United States economy, especially lower and middle class wage earners."

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