What About Exxon's Extraordinary Taxes?
HOUSTON -- Exxon Mobil reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33% from a year ago. The previous record for annual profit was $40.6 billion, which the world's largest publicly traded oil company set in 2007. The extraordinary full-year profit wasn't a surprise given crude's triple-digit price for much of 2008, peaking near an unheard of $150 a barrel in July.
As usual, Exxon's "extraordinary" profits in 2008 will receive a lot of media attention, but what won't receive much attention is the "extraordinary" amount of taxes paid and collected by Exxon in 2008. According to Exxon's income statement, it paid $36.53 billion in 2008 income taxes, and its effective income tax rate increased to 47% from 44% in 2007. Exxon also reported $34.5 billion in sales-based taxes, and $45.2 billion in other taxes, for a total $116.2 billion taxes paid and collected in 2008 (see chart above).
19 Comments:
Wow the incompetence is mind-numbing.
Exxon Profit Down 33% as Prices Fall
Either the NYT headline writer is retarded, or some conspiracy theory that I'm not interested in pursuing right now.
Never mind - the headline was referring exclusively to 4Q - talk about cherry picking.
What a country! You can pay incredibly high taxes and still earn incredibly high profits! Win-win for everybody. Nothing wrong with that.
When are we going to get a handle on those damn greedy McDonald's executives who are exploiting us poor burger consumers during this record downturn? This is an outrage!! I demand a congressional hearing on this. Speaker Pelosi? Anyone?
When are we going to put excess profits taxes on porfessional athletes and movie stars...
What a country! You can pay incredibly high taxes and still earn incredibly high profits! Win-win for everybody. Nothing wrong with that.
Where were you, and you lefty friends, when oil was 8 dollars a barrel and oil companies were going out of business daily?
Typical leftist. You want to be a partner, with no responsibilities or risk, on the upside, but you are nowhere to be found when things get tough.
The average oil company shareholder makes 65,000 dollars a year and holds their stock in their retiremnet account. What makes you believe that you have any moral claim to their property? By what authority would you make them your slaves?
Let me second anon @ 1:37 PM attitude...
"You can pay incredibly high taxes and still earn incredibly high profits! Win-win for everybody. Nothing wrong with that"...
What?!?!
You mean you mika enjoyed paying extra (those taxes were passed off onto the consumer at least in part) money per gallon of gasoline?
You sure gotta feel bad for a company who operates in a managed economy - against the principles of a free market - and still has to pay taxes?!?! Ludicrous!
I guess we could take back all of the things that their tax dollars have afforded the country - you know like roads, law enforcement, middle eastern wars and scientific advances and just have them expense the cost. Yeah, that would be more efficient. Right.
what do sales-based and other taxes (whatever they are) have to do with exxon's tax payment? that's money payed by the consumer. to be a little more specific you and i. mentioning them seems a little deceptive to me.
This puts into perspective the claims that oil companies are getting millions in kick backs and subsidies from the government.
what do sales-based and other taxes (whatever they are) have to do with exxon's tax payment?
The first time you produce something of value and have it's marketability impacted by a government tax, you'll understand. The profit margins on many products are exceeded by the taxes imposed on their sale. If the product and the tax were meant to be disassociated why not just send you your tax bill in the mail?
Further, the tax burden imposed by the government is not simply an economic decision related to the building of roads, schools, etc. All to often taxes are imposed as a form of behavior modification. This is a power the founders never intended government bureaucrats to possess.
... a company who operates in a managed economy - against the principles of a free market..
Gibberish.
Sales-based taxes are paid by customers and are a pass-through for the company.
Those mysterious "other taxes" may be employment taxes, possibly including taxes withheld from employees.
A few more facts would be useful before jumping to conclusions.
It's patriotic duty to pay taxes unless you're a liberal, then it s optional (Geithner, Rangle, Daschle.)
Taxes are for those little people and those big, evil corporations (aka the places where the little people work.)
Here is another interesting piece of (non economic) data on Exxon. I googled the co. this AM because I needed info on my Exxon mobil card (I always buy gas from them) and what do I find but every entry for the co. has the warning "this site may harm your computer". I went through about 4 or 5 pages for both Exxon Mobil and Exxon and got the same results.
So, what we have here is another environmental leftist whacko (s) hacking google to interrupt communications and transactions (I guess it is economic after all).
I wonder how long it will take the "googlemeister" to identify the crime. It took them years for Bush and a couple of days for Obama. The clock is ticking.
Well, it seems I was in error. Apparently, it infected all of googles entries and was an internal error of some kind. It lasted for an hour according to google.
Free marketeers know that business does not PAY taxes, it COLLECTS and REMITS taxes.
Sheesh!
NoWhining said:
When are we going to get a handle on those damn greedy McDonald's executives who are exploiting us poor burger consumers during this record downturn? This is an outrage!! I demand a congressional hearing on this. Speaker Pelosi? Anyone?
Next time you enjoy a Big Mac, thank the poor underpaid hamburger flippers who made it for you.
I wrote about something similar a few months back when there was talk about a "windfall profits tax". See http://www.sidesofmarch.com/index.php/archive/2008/09/17/a-financial-look-at-windfall-profits-and-oil-companies/
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