Thursday, May 01, 2008

Exxon Income Taxes Set All-Time Record of $9.3B

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Record oil prices netted Exxon Mobil $10.89 billion in the first quarter, sharply higher than a year earlier but short of Wall Street expectations and below what was needed to set a new all-time profit record.

The sheer size of the Exxon profit reported Thursday will still likely attract attention from consumer groups and lawmakers, who have been arguing for higher taxes on oil companies amid soaring gas and oil prices.

The company posted first-quarter net income of $10.89 billion, or $2.03 a share. That's up 17% from the $9.28 billion, or $1.62 a share it earned a year earlier, but it missed analysts' consensus forecast of $2.14.

Revenue hit $116.85 billion, up 34% from a year earlier when sales hit $87.2 billion. The profit was still enough to be the second highest U.S. corporate profit on record, falling just short of the record $11.66 billion Exxon Mobil earned in the fourth quarter. The profit came to $1,385 a second, enough to buy nearly 382 gallons of gas at current prices.

Prediction: In every single media story today about Exxon, the one key income statement variable that will receive ABSOLUTELY NO ATTENTION is the amount of income taxes paid by Exxon, which was $9.32 billion in the first quarter,
according to Exxon.

Following CNN's analysis, Exxon paid $1185 in income taxes every second this quarter, enough to buy 327 gallons of gas.

Bottom Line: Although Exxon's profits in the first quarter didn't set a record, its quarterly income taxes paid of $9.32 billion did set an all-time record. I predict this will go largely unreported.

5 Comments:

At 5/01/2008 9:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How many more risks could ExMob take in the search for oil, and how many more people could ExMob employ, and how much more could ExMob return to its shareholders if only thet were allowed to keep just half of what they paid in taxes?

 
At 5/01/2008 9:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If the government decides to increase taxes on oil companies for their "windfall" wouldn't the unintended consequence be much higher prices for consumers?

Government raises taxes on oil industry, individual company stocks plummet causing the companies to lower risk and do less to lose less to taxes, oil supply decreases, oil prices increase. An additional side effect would be that the government would receive less taxes from the hampered oil companies.

 
At 5/01/2008 12:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Absolutely correct, anon. All taxes are paid by the end consumer. You and me.

 
At 5/01/2008 2:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If only our politicians understood what a profit margin is...

 
At 5/01/2008 4:32 PM, Blogger juandos said...

How many of the elected politicos on a local, state, or national scene have shown even a little bit of knowledge of basic economics?

 

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