100% Profit, 0% Tax

Corporate taxes in the U.S. are at a 40 year low, and many of the most profitable companies pay nothing at all. In fact, the 10 most profitable U.S. companies paid an average federal tax rate of just 9 percent last year.

A recent study by the Citizens for Tax Justice found that 30 major corporations had made billions of dollars in profits while paying no federal income tax between 2008 and 2010. And when the study was updated to include 2011 data, 26 of the 30 had still not paid a penny in tax. In total, despite making $205 billion in pretax U.S. profits, these 30 firms enjoyed an average federal income tax rate of –3.1 percent over the four years.

The CTJ noted that had these 30 companies paid the full 35 percent corporate tax rate over the 2008-11 period, they would have paid $78.3 billion more in federal income taxes.