Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010

A comprehensive new study that profiles 280 of America's most profitable companies finds that 78 of them paid no federal income tax in at least one of the last three years. Thirty companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the three year period, despite combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion. These are among the findings in "Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010," released today by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

"These 280 corporations received a total of nearly $223 billion in tax subsidies," said Robert McIntyre, Director at Citizens for Tax Justice and the report's lead author. "This is wasted money that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit."

"Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010" is the tenth comprehensive publication on corporate taxes from Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The two groups released their first major study on the federal income taxes that large, profitable American corporations pay on their U.S. pretax profits in 1984.

The newest study, released today, is online at www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers.

The study examines 280 corporations, all from the Fortune 500 list. All of the companies were profitable in each of the last three years and provided sufficient and reliable information in their financial reports about their pretax U.S. profits and their U.S. federal income taxes.

Corporations are lobbying for lower corporate rates and an exemption for profits they shift offshore. McIntyre, however, says "Our study provides proof that too many corporations are already being coddled by our tax system."