Tops

2007 July 15
tags: , , , , ,
by Kelly

Fortune 500 has released its list of America’s largest corporations. They are:

1. Wal-Mart Stores
2. Exxon Mobil
3. General Motors
4. Chevron
5. ConocoPhillips
6. General Electric
7. Ford Motor
8. Citigroup
9. Bank of America
10. American International Group

I thought it would be cool to compare this list with the top ten corporate taxpayers in the US. Unfortunately, that list was a little more difficult to come by. I did find this list from Forbes in 2004. It’s still a pretty good apples to apples. Check it out (the number in parethesis represents the effective tax rate):

1. Exxon Mobil (34.4%)
2. Citigroup (31.1%)
3. ChevronTexaco (41.8%)
4. Altria Group (34.9%)
5. Wal-Mart Stores (36.1%)
6. Bank of America (31.8%)
7. Microsoft (32.1%)
8. General Electric (21.7%)
9. American International Group (30.7%)
10.Berkshire Hathaway (31.7%)

Any surprises?

from → corporate

No Comments leave one →
2007 July 16
Tax Geek

It’s interesting when companies that are mostly domestic have effective rates less then the 35% Fed rate. Generally, I’d expect to see these companies with an effective rate of 39-42% depending on the states they’re in. The international ones are likely achieving these rates by sheltering income in lower/no tax jurisdictions. B of A and Berkshire seem low to me, Chevron seems abnormally high, particularly compared to Exxon.

2007 July 16
Doug

I’m curious to hear how they can do that as well. Is Ford not on the top 10 tax payer list because they loose money?

2007 July 18
drtaxsacto

I am not sure what the significance is here. The corporate structure among the 10 is different. Some like big tobacco are taxed heavily. Others like the autos have had a lousy couple of years.

2007 July 19
FinanceGuy

The comparison is a little problematic. We don’t really know what sort of losses these companies carried over from 2001-2003 when calculating their 2004 taxes, without going back to the 10-Ks. Another problem is that this is reporting federal taxes. You can offset foreign taxes paid with federal taxes owed, up to the federal tax rate. Finally, this is reporting taxes paid based on accounting computations. Actual taxes paid are likely to be different, which is how deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities come about.

2007 October 17
Does Wal-Mart want your child to read?

[...] is the largest corporation in America, according to Fortune 500. According to Good Jobs First, Wal-Mart recently posted earnings of $350 billion in annual revenue [...]

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