despite making combined profits of $160billion !
- Average tax rate for 280 companies in study was 18.5 percent - less than half the statutory rate of 35 per cent
- Total tax subsidies given to all corporations in report amounted to $222.7 billion from 2008 to 2010
- Wells Fargo tops the list, getting nearly $18 billion in tax breaks from the U.S. treasury over the last three years
Thirty large and profitable U.S. corporations paid no income taxes from 2008 through to 2010, despite making combined pre-tax profits of $160billion, a report out today said.
A comprehensive analysis of 280 corporations on the Fortune 500 list found that their tax subsidies amounted to $222.7bn in the last three years.
The report, from Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, arrives as Congress faces rising demands for tax reform but seems unable or unwilling to act.
Under half: Corporations are paying far less
income tax as a percentage than the statutory rate of 35 per cent, shown
in graph of 2008 totals
Sliding: The 2009 graph shows how corporations started paying less tax, with the industrial machinery industry hitting negatives
Minimal input: Four major industries paid less than 10 per cent tax in 2010
The statutory U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 per cent, one of the highest in the world; but over the 2008-2010 period, very few of the companies studied paid it, said the report.
The average effective tax rate for the companies over the period was 18.5 per cent, said Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, both think tanks.
Their report also listed General Electric Co, Paccar Inc, PG&E Corp, Computer Sciences Corp, Boeing Co and NiSource Inc as among the 30 that paid no taxes.
Corporations will say rightly that the loopholes that let them slash their taxes were perfectly legal, the report said.
'But that does not mean that low-tax corporations bear no responsibility. The laws were not enacted in a vacuum; they were adopted in response to relentless corporate lobbying, threats and campaign support,' the report said.
Some of the 30 companies disputed the report's findings.
DIRTY 30: THE COMPANIES WHICH PAID NOTHING IN INCOME TAX OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS DESPITE POCKETING BILLIONS IN PROFIT
Company / 2008-10 Profits ($ millions) / 2008-10 Taxes ($ millions) / Effective 2008-10 Rate
Pepco Holdings $ 882 / $ -508 / -57.6%
General Electric 10,460 / -4,737 / -45.3%
Paccar 365 / -112 / -30.5%
PG&E Corp. 4,855 / -1,027 / -21.2%
Computer Sciences 1,666 / -305 / -18.3%
NiSource 1,385 / -227 / -16.4%
CenterPoint Energy 1,931 / -284 / -14.7%
Tenet Healthcare 415 / -48 / -11.6%
Atmos Energy 897 / -104 / -11.6%
Integrys Energy Group 818 / -92 / -11.3%
American Electric Power 5,899 / -545 / -9.2%
Con-way 286 / -26 / -9.1%
Ryder System 627 / -46 / -7.3%
Baxter International 926 / -66 / -7.1%
Wisconsin Energy 1,725 / -85 / -4.9%
Duke Energy 5,475 / -216 / -3.9%
DuPont 2,124 / -72 / -3.4%
Consolidated Edison 4,263 / -127 / -3.0%
Verizon Communications 32,518 / -951 / -2.9%
Interpublic Group 571 / -15 / -2.6%
CMS Energy 1,292 / -29 / -2.2%
NextEra Energy 6,403 / -139 / -2.2%
Navistar International 896 / -18 / -2.0%
Boeing 9,735 / -178 / -1.8%
Wells Fargo 49,370 / -681 / -1.4%
El Paso 4,105 / -41 / -1.0%
Mattel 1,020 / -9 / -0.9%
Honeywell International 4,903 / -34 / -0.7%
DTE Energy 2,551 / -17 / -0.7%
Corning 1,977 / -4 / -0.2%
TOTAL: On $160.341 billion in profits, they paid $ -10.742 billion in taxes, for an average effective tax rate of -6.7%
Pepco Holdings $ 882 / $ -508 / -57.6%
General Electric 10,460 / -4,737 / -45.3%
Paccar 365 / -112 / -30.5%
PG&E Corp. 4,855 / -1,027 / -21.2%
Computer Sciences 1,666 / -305 / -18.3%
NiSource 1,385 / -227 / -16.4%
CenterPoint Energy 1,931 / -284 / -14.7%
Tenet Healthcare 415 / -48 / -11.6%
Atmos Energy 897 / -104 / -11.6%
Integrys Energy Group 818 / -92 / -11.3%
American Electric Power 5,899 / -545 / -9.2%
Con-way 286 / -26 / -9.1%
Ryder System 627 / -46 / -7.3%
Baxter International 926 / -66 / -7.1%
Wisconsin Energy 1,725 / -85 / -4.9%
Duke Energy 5,475 / -216 / -3.9%
DuPont 2,124 / -72 / -3.4%
Consolidated Edison 4,263 / -127 / -3.0%
Verizon Communications 32,518 / -951 / -2.9%
Interpublic Group 571 / -15 / -2.6%
CMS Energy 1,292 / -29 / -2.2%
NextEra Energy 6,403 / -139 / -2.2%
Navistar International 896 / -18 / -2.0%
Boeing 9,735 / -178 / -1.8%
Wells Fargo 49,370 / -681 / -1.4%
El Paso 4,105 / -41 / -1.0%
Mattel 1,020 / -9 / -0.9%
Honeywell International 4,903 / -34 / -0.7%
DTE Energy 2,551 / -17 / -0.7%
Corning 1,977 / -4 / -0.2%
TOTAL: On $160.341 billion in profits, they paid $ -10.742 billion in taxes, for an average effective tax rate of -6.7%
Collections down: 78 of the 280 companies
surveyed paid no federal income tax to the IRS, headquarters pictured,
in at least one of the last three years
Boeing paid its taxes 'between 2008-2010 ... Our effective income tax rate was 26.5 percent, 22.9 percent, 33.6 percent in 2010, 2009, 2008,' said a spokesman for the aerospace group.
As Congress and the Obama administration struggle with a sluggish economy and high deficits, corporations are pressing Capitol Hill for more tax breaks and a lower corporate rate.
Taxes are on the agenda of the congressional 'super committee' tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in additional budget savings by November 23, but it is so far deadlocked across a familiar divide - Republicans refusing any tax increases, Democrats defending social programs.
On Tuesday, a panel of budget experts warned super committee members they would fail the country if they did not meet their goal. Financial markets have been waiting for many months for signs that Washington can get its financial house in order, but few have been forthcoming.
The report referred back to the 1986 tax reform pushed through by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, who approved the largest corporate tax increase in U.S. history, largely by ending tax breaks, while cutting individual tax rates.
Tax-dodge? Wells Fargo tops the list of 280 U.S.
corporations receiving the most in tax subsidies, getting nearly $18
billion in tax breaks from the U.S. treasury in the last three years
The industrial machinery business enjoyed the lowest effective tax rate during the study period, while the highest rate was paid by healthcare companies, the report said.
'Big Business is getting away with taxation murder,' said Frank Knapp, vice chairman of the American Sustainable Business Council, a progressive business coalition.
'They pay little or no taxes on massive U.S. profits and then have the gall to lobby for a tax holiday to 'repatriate' profits they have stashed offshore.'
What are some of the tax breaks that corporations enjoy? One big one is accelerated depreciation that lets them write off equipment faster than it actually wears out.
Deductions on executive stock options help. So do tax breaks for research and development and for making products in the United States instead of overseas. Offshore tax shelters play a role, too.
Power group Duke Energy Corp was one of the 30 companies listed as paying no income taxes in 2008-2010.
Big profits: AT&T was another top tax subsidy recipient with $14.5 billion
Rogers is a frequent spokesman for a coalition of large multinationals seeking a tax break that would let them bring foreign profits into the United States at a reduced tax rate.
Others among the 30 companies included power producer American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP), chemicals company DuPont and toymaker Mattel Inc.
Like Duke, AEP said it benefited from accelerated depreciation. A Mattel spokesperson said the report's claims were inconsistent with the company's public financial filings.
'DuPont complies with all tax laws and regulations in every jurisdiction in which it operates,' said a DuPont spokeswoman.
The average effective corporate tax rate, as calculated by McIntyre's group, was about 14 percent before the Reagan reforms; afterward it shot up to 26.5 percent in 1988.
As companies found their way around the reforms, the effective rate fell back to about 17 percent by 2002-2003.
Unlike in Reagan's time, taming corporate tax breaks alone will not solve the deficit problem. Such breaks cost the government about $102 billion in lost revenues in 2011, a year when the federal deficit was an estimated $1.3 trillion.
Corporate loopholes are dwarfed by tax breaks that benefit individuals, such as the mortgage interest tax deduction -- a middle class sacred cow, on its own worth $104 billion.
Still, said the report: 'If we are going to get our nation's fiscal house in order, increasing corporate income taxes should play an important role.'
