In performing a quick review of SEC filings of large corps with an SEC State Location Code in Utah, I found only one large Corp, Questar, with Total Consolidated Pretax Income of more than $4 bil, for the most recent 12 years. Questar is an Oil and Gas Company.
Questar’s effective state corporate income tax rates paid, which is computed by dividing the current state corporate income tax paid ($53 mil) by the consolidated pretax income ($5,345 mil), both in total for the past twelve years is only 0.99%, which is a huge 80% discount from Utah’s current state corporate income tax rate of 5.00%.
Since I think I have already examined all the US States that have Big Oil and Gas Corps headquartered there except for the huge Texas, let me summarize below some key information related to State Corporate Income Taxes Paid by these 9 Big Oil and Gas Corps in these States.
Below here on the far right is a summary of what I call one way of estimating the Total State Corporate Income Tax Loopholes Taken by these 9 Big Oil and Gas Corps. These State Tax Loopholes are estimated below by multiplying the current State Corporate Income Tax Rate by the total Consolidated Pretax Income of each Corp for the last twelve years. Then, I subtracted the actual total State and Local Income Tax Paid by each of these Corps for the same twelve years.
....................................................Effective
………………….12 Years………………...State.....Current………..12 Years
…………………...State……12 Years.....Tax........State…………......State
…………………..Income……Pretax…...Rate…….Tax...Discount…Tax
………………....Tax Paid....Income…..Paid…….Rate.......%...Loophole
……………………(millions of dollars).................................(mils of $s)
Sunoco(PA)…….452………8,343…..5.42%.....9.99%....46%........381
Oneok(OK)……....76……....5,201…..1.46%.....6.00%....76%.......236
Chevron(CA).3,057…...211,552…..1.45%.....8.84%....84%...15,644
Oxy Petrol(CA).731….....55,238…..1.32%.....8.84%....85%.....4,152
Williams(OK)…..102……….8,156…..1.25%.....6.00%....79%.......387
Questar(UT)……..53….......5,345…..0.99%.....5.00%....80%.......214
Murphy Oil(AR)..66…....10,198…...0.65%.....6.50%....90%.......597
Devon Egy(OK)..140…...25,453*….0.55%.....6.00%....91%....1,387
Hess(NY).........(123)…..21,762….(0.57)%.....7.10%...108%...1,668
Total of All 9..4,554…..351,248.....1.30%.....8.32%**..84%..24,666
* Exclusive of $16.3 bil in Reductions of Carrying Value of Oil and Gas Properties in the most recent two years. Including these, Devon Energy’s effective state corporate income tax rate paid is a higher 1.53%.
** Weighted average
As you can see from the above numbers, all Big Oil and Gas Corps have incredibly low effective state corporate income tax rates paid, with the sole exception of Sunoco. In depth analysis of the computations supporting these numbers should easily reveal why this is the case.
It’s going to take me awhile, because there are so many very profitable Big Oil and Gas Corps in Texas, but I think it should be interesting to see just how low the effective state corporate income tax rates paid for Big Corps headquartered in Texas come out.
