How much do oil companies really pay in taxes?

Exxon Mobil says it pays plenty — more in U.S. taxes than it earned in the United States last year.

Not so, say critics of the oil industry; the Center for American Progress says the oil giant’s effective federal income tax rate is about half the 35 percent standard for U.S. companies. The liberal-leaning think tank, citing Exxon Mobil’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, says the corporation didn’t pay any federal income tax in 2009.

“We pay our fair share of taxes,” said Kenneth Cohen, Exxon Mobil’s vice president for public affairs, who in a conference call recently lumped more than $6 of sales, state and local taxes together with every $1 of federal income tax paid in 2010.

But Exxon Mobil’s tax rate is “lower than the average American’s,” Daniel Weiss, an energy expert at CAP, countered in an analysis that put the company’s U.S. federal income tax rate in 2010 at just 17.2 percent.

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After attending a guest lecture by economist and Nobel Laureate winner Professor Stiglitz, a couple of weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about his perspective on how to solve the economic crisis. One of his key arguments was to properly tax corporations for the natural resources they take. A nation's resources that belong to everyone.
Oil corporations like Shell, for instance, make €1.8 billion in profits an hour while we pay the jackpot at the pump. In a perfect world, resources would be equally distributed and I know that reality differs. However, considering that the US is close to bankruptcy, it's beyond ridiculous that the income tax for companies like Exxon Mobil are only half of the standard other companies pay.

Same applies for the banking sector. Deutsche Bank reported profits of €2.1 billion for the first quarter of 2011. Remember, they were among the criminals that brought this crisis upon us. How on earth is this possible? Why aren't banks forced to cede 90% of their profits to a fund that could be used for cleaning up the mess they have made. It's already sick enough that they are left unpunished.

No wonder that our financial system (that of the West; I'm no American) is going to crash. This is corruption in its purest form and the pathetic thing is, we all sit by idly until it's too late. Just like the Greeks did.

I think it's almost worst in Canada sometimes. I heard the government gives tax bailouts for companies to come here for 5-10-15 years. Also, most of those companies use up our natural resources.

And guess where the profits go? To the same people that don't need more money that probably don't spend their time in Canada. The world is a corporate world where we put the value of money, which doesn't really exist, above human beings.

We the people pay taxes for work, companies and other BS without representation.

And all the while those elitists can play with their bonuses, stock options and golden handshakes in their old boys network.

This world needs a changing and soon before the real class war starts.

Originally posted by User8911
I think it's almost worst in Canada sometimes. I heard the government gives tax bailouts for companies to come here for 5-10-15 years. Also, most of those companies use up our natural resources.

And guess where the profits go? To the same people that don't need more money that probably don't spend their time in Canada. The world is a corporate world where we put the value of money, which doesn't really exist, above human beings.

edit on 9-6-2011 by User8911 because: (no reason given)

Oh believe me, you are not alone. In the Netherlands, the corporate tax rate has changed almost nothing since the early 60s. Multinationals like Shell, Philips and Unilever pay some 6-7% of corporate tax (the official rate is approx. 25%) as they are given huge tax rebates. These corporations blackmail the government by threatening them to leave to other countries. This policy has made the Netherlands a tax heaven like the Cayman Islands; many foreign corporations exploit this. That's why many US companies have a mailbox address in the Netherlands and hence, avoid paying billions in taxes.

It's one sick world.