Taxation Hero: ExxonMobil Has Paid $1 Trillion in Taxes Since 1999, More Than 3X Its Profits
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In their July 2012 policy breif "Investment Heroes: Who's Betting on America's Future?" Diana Carew and Michael Mandel of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) recognized 25 American companies as "Investment Heroes" of 2012 for their collective investment of $136 billion in U.S. capital expenditures. Ranked as America's third largest "investment hero" was ExxonMobil, for its $11.7 billion of investment spending in the U.S. last year building oil and natural gas pipelines and exploratory costs for new sources of oil and gas.
In a Forbes article today, "Taxation Hero: ExxonMobil Pays $3 In Taxes For Every $1 In Profit," AEI's Nick Schulz points out that since Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, the energy giant has paid more than $1 trillion to various governments, see chart above. Nick conludes:
"That's more than double its net cash flow over the same period and almost three times its profits of $352 billion. Think about what this means: For every dollar in profits it earns for its shareholders, ExxonMobil earns nearly three dollars for governments.
Here's an idea: Mandel and his team might also want to compile a list of “taxation heroes” given the enormous sums of money firms such as ExxonMobil pour into government coffers."
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