Monday, September 5, 2011

Big Corp Tax Loophole Closer #50: Minimum Tax on Other Sector Big Corp Worldwide Profits

So far, I have studied Big Corps in 6 Major US Sectors which have paid incredibly meager amounts of US Federal Income Taxes.

My recommendation is for the US Government to put a minimum US federal income tax on all of these US Big Corps, which should be used to fund a combination of wise US job creation, a US debt reduction, and a lower US Federal Income Tax Rate for all smaller and medium-sized US businesses.

Here is a summary of my projected positive CBO scoring to the US Government over the next 10 years, assuming this minimum US Federal Income Tax would be set at least at either 10% or 15% of Worldwide Consolidated Pretax Income of every US Big Corp in each year.

…………………….Positive CBO Scoring Next 10 Years
………………………………….................Minimum Tax
…………………………………................10%...........15%
………………………………...........(billions of US dollars)

Big US Oil Corps……………….........273.5………480.5
Big US Financial Corps………….....259.4………345.0
Big US Conglomerate Corps……...131.3……….163.0
Big US Health Care Corps………......95.2……….142.1
Big US High Tech Corps………….....73.0……….158.7
Big US Telecom Corps…………….....72.9……….110.2

Total of these 6 Major Sectors....905.3…….1,399.5

In this post, I am addressing US Big Corps in all of the other Non-Utility US Sectors, other than the above 6 Sectors.

Altogether, there were 67 US Big Corps in 22 Other US Sectors that had Total Consolidated Pretax Income of at least $1.5 bil each in the most recent three years, and which also paid an effective US Federal Income Tax Rate of below 15% in 2010. Included in these 67 US Big Corps are several somewhat smaller Corps which I was interested in.

Here is the relevant 2010 financial information regarding these 67 US Big Corps:

.................................Current US...........................Effective
.................................Fed Inc Tax..Consolidated...Tax Rate
................................Paid(Benefit).........PTI.......Paid(Benefit)
.....................................2010..............2010............2010
........................................(million of $s).....

Big Food and Beverage Corps
MolsonCoors Brewing.........8................809.............1.0%
Coca Cola Enterprises.........8................746.............1.1%
Bunge, Ltd(1)....................33.............3,050.............1.1%
Kraft Foods.......................91.............3,642.............2.5%
Sara Lee............................13................487.............2.7%
HJ Heinz...........................39.............1,374.............2.8%
Coca Cola(2)...................470............9,709.............4.8%
Kellogg.............................97.............1,742.............5.6%
Mead Johnson Nutrition...38................634.............6.0%
ArcherDanielsMidland....251.............3,015.............8.3%
PepsiCo...........................932.............8,232............11.3%
ConAgra Foods...............157.............1,225............12.8%
Total 12 Food&Bev.......2,137...........34,665.............6.2%

Big Chemical Corps
Dow Chemical...............(576)...........2,802..........(20.6)%
DuPont.........................(109)............3,711............(2.9)%
Mosaic...........................135.............3,271..............4.1%
PPG Industries................62..............1,295..............4.8%
Praxair..........................133..............1,964..............6.8%
Air Products&Chems.....101..............1,394..............7.2%
Lubrizol.........................97..............1,004..............9.7%
Total 7 Chemicals........(157)............15,441............(1.0)%

Big Household/Personal Product Corps
Fortune Brands.............(61)................588............(10.4)%
Avon Products..............(21)................945.............(2.2)%
Procter & Gamble.......1,809............15,158.............11.9%
Estee Lauder.................127..............1,026.............12.4%
Colgate Palmolive(3).....427..............3,430.............12.4%
Kimberly Clark..............368..............2,550.............14.4%
Total 6 HH and PPs.....2,649............23,697.............11.2%

Big Mining Corps
Southern Copper(1)........40...............2,431..............1.6%
Freeport-McMoran......207...............8,512..............2.4%
Newmont Mining(1)......214...............3,997..............5.4%
Cliff's Natural Res..........108...............1,298..............8.3%
Peabody Energy............114...............1,113.............10.2%
Total 5 Big Mining.........683.............17,351..............3.9%

Big Industrial Machinery Corps
Eaton.............................(2)..............1,036.............(0.2)%
Ingersoll-Rand(1)...........29..............1,007...............2.9%
Dover.............................34.................925...............3.7%
Parker Hannifin.............121..............1,414...............8.6%
Total 4 Industr Mach....182..............4,382...............4.2%

Big Leisure and Entertainment Corps
Carnival..........................0...............1,979...............0.0%
Royal Caribbean..............0.................548...............0.0%
Mattel............................14.................847...............1.7%
Wyndham WW................55................563................9.8%
Total 4 Leisure&Entert...69..............3,937...............1.8%

Big Electric Equipment Corps
Whirlpool...................(101)...............586...........(17.2)%
Rockwell Automation....10................544...............1.8%
Cooper Industries.........29................530...............5.5%
Amphenol(1)................77................664..............11.6%
Total 4 Electric Equip....15.............2,324...............0.6%

Big US Defense Contractor Corps
Boeing..........................13.............4,507...............0.3%
Goodrich......................67................805...............8.3%
Raytheon....................205.............2,432...............8.4%
Total 3 US Defense
.....Contractors............285............7,744...............3.7%

Big Retail Corps
Supervalu(4)..................2.................347...............0.6%
Yum Brands................155..............1,594...............9.7%
Staples........................142..............1,357.............10.5%
Total 3 Retail..............299..............3,298...............9.1%

Big Farm/Construction Machinery Corps
Cummins(1)..................11...............1,617...............0.7%
Caterpillar..................247..............3,750...............6.6%
Total 2 Big Farm
.....and Construction...258..............5,367...............4.8%

Big Wholesaler Corps
CHS(1)............................9.................584...............1.5%
Avnet...........................64.................871...............7.3%
Total 2 Wholesalers......73..............1,455...............5.0%

Big Engineering/Construction Corps
Fluor............................22................560...............3.9%
KBR..............................56................586...............9.6%
Total 2 Eng & Constr.....78..............1,146...............6.8%

Big Packaging/Container Corps
Crown Holdings..............0................614...............0.0%
Ball Corp.......................49................606...............8.1%
Total 2 Packaging
.....and Containers........49..............1,220..............4.0%

Big Misc Equipment Corps
Joy Global...................33.................679...............4.9%
Flowserve....................13.................530...............2.5%
Total 2 Misc Equip.......46..............1,209...............3.8%

Big Transportation Corps
FedEx.........................79..............2,265...............3.5%
United Parcel Serv....776..............5,523..............14.1%
Total 2 Big
.....Transportation.....855.............7,788..............11.0%

Big Tobacco Corp
Phillip Morris Intl......157............10,324...............1.5%

Big Cogeneration Power Producer
AES(4).........................(8).............2,265.............(0.4)%

Big Advertising Agency Corp
Omnicom Group........107..............1,350...............7.9%

Big Forest/Paper Product Corp
Intl Paper................(249)................822............(30.3)%

Big Metal Corp
Nucor.......................(66)................267.............(24.7)%

Big Motor Vehicles/Parts Corp
Paccar........................25.................660.................3.8%

Big Apparel/Footwear Corp
Nike..........................289..............2,844................10.2%

Grand Total (67 Corps
….in 22 Sectors)
..7,776..........149,556.................5.2%

(1) Above Current US Federal Income Tax also includes US State Income Tax.
(2) Coca Cola PTI excludes various large unusual transactions.
(3) Colgate Palmolive US Federal Income Tax also includes US State Income Tax and also all US Deferred Income Tax Expense.
(4) PTI excludes large Intangible Asset Impairments.


My proposal here is that all US Big Corps in these Other Sectors should pay in US Federal Income Tax each year at least an amount equal to 10% of their Worldwide Pretax Income. That's not too much to ask, particularly in these horrible economic times, not just for US citizens and small businesses, but also for the US Debt Status.

When I run the detailed numbers on these Big Other Sector Corps, and use a 10% average annual profit growth and 10% annual Federal Income Tax Paid growth from 2010 to 2021, I get additional US Federal Income Tax Receipts over the 10 years from 2012 to 2021 of $155.9 bil. When added to the similar earlier mentioned $905.3 bil related to the 6 Sectors I had already studied, that brings the total positive CBO scoring to the US Government to $1,061.2 bil.

And if I use a 15% minimum Federal Income Tax Rate, rather than a 10% minimum tax rate, I get positive CBO scoring of $282.7 bil over the 10 years from 2012 to 2021 related to these 67 US Big Corps in these 22 Other Sectors. When added to the similar earlier mentioned $1,395.5 bil related to the 6 Sectors I had already studied, that brings the total positive CBO scoring to $1,682.2 bil…..yeah, almost $1.7 trillion.

Perhaps the best way to go on a minimum tax on US Big Other Sector Corps would be to apply a 10% minimum US Federal Income Tax on the first $10 bil of annual Worldwide Pretax Income, then a 15% minimum tax on any annual Worldwide Pretax Income in excess of $10 bil and up to $20 bil, and then a 20% minimum tax on any annual Worldwide Pretax Income in excess of $20 bil.