39 of the Biggest Corporations Paid a Lower Tax Rate than the Average American

Monday, May 23, 2011

The average American pays about 12% of his or her income to federal income tax. Thanks to statistics compiled by US Uncut Chicago, a group that advocates boycotting U.S. corporations that avoid paying taxes in the United States, we now know the effective tax rate paid by 100 top companies for the years 2008-2010.

 

Of the top 100, 39 paid a lower tax rate than the average American. Of these, 11 actually ended up with refunds or credits. The lucky companies were Tesoro, Sears, Prudential, Sunoco, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Verizon, Wells Fargo, DuPont, Boeing and Honeywell.

 

Among the ten corporations and banks that made the biggest profits over the last three years, there were several successful tax avoiders. ExxonMobil paid 2.0% on $171 billion in profits; Chevron paid 4.8% on almost $94 billion profit, IBM paid 1.8% on $54.6 billion; and Procter & Gamble paid 10% on 44.3 billion in profits.

 

Wells Fargo, despite raking up more than $40 billion in profits, had a negative tax rate of 1.2%; while General Electric did even better, with a negative tax rate of 10.8% on profits of $44 billion.

 

Thirty-eight companies paid a higher foreign tax rate than they did in the United States including Sears, Dow Chemical, General Electric and DuPont and Honeywell.

 

There were some corporations and companies that paid a higher rate than the average American. Wal-Mart paid 22.8% on profits of $66.5 billion and JPMorgan Chase paid 20.8% on profits of $43.7 billion. Because of low profits, Tyson Foods paid 50.9%; Progressive Insurance paid 40.7%; Northrop Grumman 40.4%; and Time Warner 40.1%.

-David Wallechinsky

 

Corporate Tax Avoidance Rankings (Pay Up Now)

General Electric Doesn’t Pay Taxes; Why Should You? (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Top 10 US Corporate Tax Avoiders Named on Senate Floor

posted by: Nancy Roberts 1 day ago

163 comments

Despite complaints about the U.S.'s burdensome 35% corporate tax rate, two-thirds of American corporations pay no taxes in a given year. In a speech last week on the Senate floor, Senator Bernie Sanders  (I) of Vermont called out the top 10 corporate tax avoiders:

Among those actually getting money back from the Feds:

• ExxonMobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009, paid no federal income taxes, received a $156 million rebate

• Bank of America received a $1.9 billion IRS refund despite $4.4 billion of profits

• General Electric had $26 billion in profits, and $4.1 billion refund (GE made it onto another top 10 list of top corporate lobbyists in 2010, spending $39 million)

• Chevron nabbed a $19 million refund after making $10 billion in profits

Wall Street made the list as well; the Senator's office notes,"Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department."

Spreading the Burden, if not the Wealth

Given the nation's $1.6 trillion deficit, Senator Sanders suggests that the burden of deficit reduction be shared more equally, rather than hurting working people, sick children, and others ill-equipped for optimal lobbying.

Senator Sanders has called for eliminating corporate tax loopholes and getting rid of tax breaks for oil and gas companies. He has introduced a bill that would raise an estimated $50 billion through an "emergency" 5.4 percent extra tax on people with adjusted gross incomes of over one million dollars.

Sharing the pain...not happening

Senator Sanders says that serious times call for shared sacrifice. Those are beautiful words, but sharing sacrifice seems like a fairy tale in a country where the top five percent own nearly two-thirds  of our nation's wealth.

Despite the Supreme Court 's finding that corporations are basically people in the eyes of the law, corporations themselves cannot be moral or immoral -- they are entities, not sentient beings. We have a system that rewards the gamers, where winners take all, and influence peddling is rife; where the defense for a highly profitable company not paying taxes is that it is within the law. As American families face the looming April 15 tax deadline, it is tough to hear corporations claim that mere compliance is enough in a system where laws and loopholes can be bought and sold.

The Top Seven Corporate Tax Evaders ... Print it !!

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/economy/the-top-7-corporate-tax-evaders.html

Want to hear something worth having a tea party about? Some of the largest US corporations have mastered the art of evading taxes by booking expenses in the US and profits in low-tax countries.

As you send off your taxes on today’s April 15th filing deadline, think about the multi-billion dollar corporations which Forbes reports had lower tax rates than you did:

7) Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) earned pretax income of $9.4 billion, but managed to keep their tax rate the same as someone earning less than $33,950 a year. Their trickery? Book profits at lower-tax foreign subsidiaries.

6) Verizon

Verizon (VZ) has a lovely 10.5% tax rate. That’s better than a long term capital gain. Although Verizon earned $11.6 billion in pretax income, they have diverted much of their income through foreign wireless partner Vodafone.

5) Chevron

Chevron (CVX) paid $8 billion in taxes on $18.5 billion in pretax income. So why did they make the list? Chevron only sent Uncle Sam a check for $200 million. The rest was paid abroad in lower-tax countries. I think they should change their logo colors from red, white and blue to something more representative of the Caymans.

4) Ford Motors

We all know Ford (F) and other car makers have been skidding since the recession began. The struggling car maker still managed to earn $3 billion in pretax income. The beauty? Ford only plunked down $69 million in taxes — a 2.3% tax rate.

Not bad considering all the other subsidies, bailouts, and cash for clunkers we’ve already given as gifts to one of the oldest car manufacturers in the world.

3) ExxonMobil

ExxonMobile (XOM) did pay $17.6 billion in taxes on $37.3 billion in pretax income. However, unlike Chevron, none of Exxon’s taxes were paid in the US. That’s funny … I think they sell a fair amount of profitable gasoline here.

2) Bank of America

Bank of American (BAC) earned pretax income of $4.4 billion in 2009, yet the financial services super market tallied up a $1.9 billion tax benefit.

How could such a travesty occur? Bank of America scoured the tax code for deductions like $860 million in tax-exempt income, $670 million in low-income housing credits, and a $600 million loss on shares of foreign subsidiaries.

Making matters worse for the US Treasury, Bank of America has a provision for credit losses of $49 billion which will carry over for a long, long time.

1) General Electric

Like those who received an Earned Income Credit (EIC), GE (GE) actually made money on their tax filing this year! Although the industrial behemoth generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, they recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. Don’t we all wish we could be in that bracket.

But big tax breaks are nothing new for the 12th largest company in the world. In 2008, GE’s effective tax rate was 5.3% versus the marginal US corporate rate of 35%. In 2007, it was 15%. You’d think GE would at least pay a little more for paper and administration costs considering their tax filing to the IRS is an astounding 24,000 pages when printed out.

Do you think these companies should be paying more in taxes? Let us know in the comments below …