Exxon Profits too High? Taxes too Low?

Why is it that the socialist media has such a problem with profit? And why do they always pick out oil companies? Why not Microsoft? We all need oil products right? We are desperate for them, right?

Big liberals hate the market economy as I have stated many times. Hillary said she would take the profits from the oil compaines as it isn't fair they should be so well managed - - -.

Remember we can't drill for any more oil even if the price continues to go up and up - she says we have to drive less and buy green light bulbs.

Vote for the Democrat in November and watch our economy tank.

Keep the faith - the battle is joined!


Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill

Exxon's tax bill is $30 Billion as posted on February 05, 2008

Corporate profits receive a lot of media attention, but what receives considerably less attention are the corporate taxes paid on corporate profits. Do a Google search for "Exxon profits" and you'll get about 8,000 hits. Now try "Exxon taxes" and you'll get a little more than 300 hits. That's a ratio of about 33 to 1.

I'm pretty sure that Exxon's tax payment in 2007 of $30 billion (that's $30,000,000,000) is a record, exceeding the $28 billion it paid last year.

By the way, Exxon pays taxes at a rate of 41% on its taxable income![Update: The $40.6 billion and $39.5 billion figures are after-tax profits. For 2006, Exxon's EBT <http://seekingalpha.com/article/63131-exxon-s-2007-tax-bill-30-billion%3E (earnings before tax) was $67.4 billion, it paid $27.9 billion in taxes (41.4% tax rate), and its NIAT (net income after tax), or profit, was $39.5 billion.]

Over the last three years, Exxon Mobil has paid an average of $27 billion annually in taxes. That's $27,000,000,000 per year, a number so large it's hard to comprehend. Here's one way to put Exxon's taxes into perspective. According to IRS data for 2004, the most recent year available:

Total number of tax returns: 130 million.

Number of Tax Returns for the Bottom 50%: 65 million

Adjusted Gross Income for the Bottom 50%: $922 billion

Total Income Tax Paid by the Bottom 50%: $27.4 billion

Conclusion: In other words, just one corporation (Exxon Mobil) pays as much in taxes ($27 billion) annually as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people! Further, the tax rate for the bottom 50% is only 3% of adjusted gross income ($27.4 billion / $922 billion), and the tax rate for Exxon was 41% in 2006 ($67.4 billion in taxable income, $27.9 billion in taxes).

Mark J. Perry, Ph.D.