10 Biggest U.S. Corporations Paid 9 Percent Tax Rate in 2011

Heard about corporations complaining that they are paying too much in taxes?

Actually, no. According to the financial site NerdWallet,
the 10 most profitable U.S. companies paid an average federal tax rate
of just 9 percent last year. The group includes heavyweights like
Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase and General
Electric.

Why can’t we all pay the same rate? Ask your tax accountant.

Thinkprogress reports
that the two companies with the lowest tax rates were these two oil
companies: ExxonMobil paid $1.5 billion in taxes on $73.3 billion in
earnings, a tax rate of 2 percent, and Chevron’s tax rate was just 4
percent.

None of the companies paid anywhere near the 35 percent top corporate
tax rate, providing more evidence to debunk claims that America’s
corporate tax rate is stunting economic growth and job creation.

In fact, American corporations pay one of the lowest effective
corporate tax rates in the world. Mitt Romney, what do you have to say
about that?

From Thinkprogress:

The study also calculated the overall
amount the companies owed in both domestic and foreign taxes. This
includes deferred taxes that will, theoretically, be paid in the future,
once the companies bring foreign profits back to the United States.
Apple, for instance, avoided $2.4 billion in American taxes last year by
utilizing offshore tax havens.

If Republicans have their way, however,
those deferred taxes may never be paid. Switching to a territorial tax
system, a policy leading Republicans have considered, would allow
corporations to repatriate foreign profits back to the United States
nearly free of taxation, costing the country billions of dollars and
thousands of jobs.

The effective corporate tax rate has been on its way down for
decades, recently hitting a 40-year low even as corporate profits have
reached an all-time high.

And here’s another interesting fact: many of the companies that have
seen their tax rates fall in recent years, including Exxon Mobil,
Verizon, General Electric and AT&T;, are among the biggest spenders
when it comes to lobbying, according to a recent analysis by the Sunlight Foundation.