Free Ride?
I love how The Tax Foundation can put things into perspective so simply and eloquently.
“While the oil companies experience record profits, the federal government has been giving them a free ride,” Jeff Rickert, vice president of the Apollo Alliance, charged during a news conference Tuesday.
In the most recent flap over “excessive†profits, ExxonMobil reported paying over $26 Billion in federal, state, and local taxes in the third quarter alone – roughly two and a half times what they made in net profits.
Income taxes: $7.68 billion
Excise taxes: $7.76 billion
All other taxes: $10.79 billionTotal taxes remitted/paid: $26.24 billion
That has to be the most expensive “free ride†in history.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:59 am
I made the same point over a year ago when congress was actually pondering a windfall tax. Maybe they should tax themselves - talk about greed and wanting their dirty grubs on more money…
http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com/2005/11/gas-windfall-tax.html
“Exxon Mobil paid $25.8 BILLION in taxes the 3rd Quarter. They were in a 41.8% tax bracket. This means that they took in about $61.7 Billion and were left with around $35.9 Billion. After their expenditures, they profited less than 17% of their total earnings.”
“Finally, the citizens and government officials seem to be really upset that Exxon Mobil made nearly $10 Billion in the quarter. Putting this chart to practical use, please note that the Government profited $4 Billion more in 3Q 2005 than in 3Q 2004. We have to have some accountability here. The government took in nearly three times more money ($25 Billion) than Exxon’s net profits ($9.9 Billion) and they are wanting more.”
January 19th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
In other words, you can juggle the numbers any way you want to make anyone the bad guy.
Big companies make big money, Big Government spends big money.