In my most recent three posts, I summarized key financial information related to the 24 largest US Corps, with Worldwide Pretax Income exceeding $10 bil each in the most recent year, to the 30 second largest US Corps, with Pretax Income between $5 bil and $10 bil, and to the 43 third largest US Corps, with Pretax Income between $3 and $5 bil.
In this post, I will summarize similar key financial information related to the 41 fourth largest US Corps, with Worldwide Pretax Income between $2 bil and $3 bil each in the most recent year.
Here is the detailed information for these 41 fourth most profitable US Corps:
..............................................................US........Effective
...........................................................Current........US
...........................................................Federal.... Federal
..........................................................Income......Income
...........................................World.........Tax...........Tax
............................................Wide.........Paid..........Rate
.............................................PTI........(Benefit)......Paid
............................................(mils of dollars)
Multinational Corps
Chubb................................2,988..........436.........14.6%
Accenture..........................2,914..........303.........10.4%
Loews................................2,902..........154...........5.3%
Emerson Electric...............2,879..........230...........8.0%
Nike...................................2,844..........289.........10.2%
Honeywell......................2,843........(471)......(16.6)%
Dow Chemical...............2,802........(576).....(20.6)%
Mastercard........................2,757..........379.........13.7%
Halliburton........................2,655..........400.........15.1%
EMC...................................2,608..........518.........19.9%
Kimberly Clark...................2,550..........368.........14.4%
Alcon.................................2,527..........313.........12.4%
Southern Copper................2,431............40...........1.6%
Viacom(1)..........................2,417..........427.........17.7%
Natl Oilwell Varco..............2,397..........421.........17.6%
Illinois Tool Works.............2,212..........429.........19.4%
Ebay..................................2,098.........(131)........(6.2)%
State Street Corp...........2,086........(885).....(42.4)%
Best Buy.............................2,078..........689.........33.2%
Franklin Resources............2,070..........426.........20.6%
Costco...............................2,054..........445..........21.7%
Danaher.............................2,052..........388.........18.9%
Total 22 Multinationals....55,164.......4,592...........8.3%
Predominantly Domestic Corps
Chesapeake Energy......2,884.............0..........0.0%
Aetna...............................2,644...........556..........21.0%
Public Service Ent Grp......2,616..........(166).........(6.3)%
Northrop Grumman.........2,595...........500..........19.3%
CSX..................................2,546...........451..........17.7%
Nextera Energy................2,489.............11...........0.4%
Raytheon.........................2,432...........205...........8.4%
General Mills....................2,428...........370..........15.2%
Norfolk Southern.............2,367...........492..........20.8%
Medco Health Solutions...2,334...........842..........36.1%
HSBC USA........................2,300..........175...........7.6%
FedEx............................2,265............79..........3.5%
Hartford Fincl Services....2,264...........134...........5.9%
HCA.................................2,231...........401..........18.0%
Duke Energy....................2,210............(5)...........(0.2)%
Time Warner Cable..........2,196...........127............5.8%
Reynolds American.........2,192...........545..........24.9%
TJX.................................2,164............511..........23.6%
Publix Super Markets......2,039...........601..........29.5%
Total 19 Domestic.........45,196.........5,829..........12.9%
Total all 41..................100,360.......10,421..........10.4%
(1) Viacom amounts are for the year ended Dec 2009.
Below here shows the Income Tax paid by 21 large US Multinational Corps to the US Government and to Foreign Governments in the most recent year.
...................................US...........................Foreign
.................................Current......Foreign...Current
...................................Fed..........Current.......Inc
...................................Inc.............Inc...........Tax
...................................Tax............Tax.........Paid
.................................Paid............Paid......(Benefit)
...............................(Benefit).....(Benefit).....Mix
.................................(mils of dollars)
Honeywell.............(471)..........393.........504%
Dow Chemical.......(576).........765.........405%
Ebay........................(131).............92........236%
State Street Corp...(885)..........156.........121%
Southern Copper.....40...........844..........95%
Loews.........................154...........239...........61%
Nike...........................289............441...........60%
Accenture..................303...........437...........59%
Emerson Electric........230...........313...........58%
Natl Oilwell Varco.......421...........448...........52%
Kimberly Clark............368...........337..........48%
Mastercard.................379...........301..........44%
Halliburton................400...........287..........42%
Illinois Tool Works.....429...........270..........39%
Chubb........................436...........242...........36%
Costco.......................445...........200...........31%
Viacom......................427..........179...........30%
Franklin Resources....426...........115...........21%
Danaher.....................388.............93..........19%
EMC...........................518...........120..........19%
Best Buy.....................689............92..........12%
Total 21 Multi-natls.4,279......6,364..........60%
Yeah, these 21 Multinational Corps have paid 49% more in total foreign income taxes than they have in total US Federal Income Taxes in the most recent year.
Focusing on which of these large US Multinational Corps are taking the most advantage of tax loopholes, which permits them to pay so little in US Federal Income Taxes, below are the 11 of them, whose US Federal Income Tax Paid Mix (i.e. US as a % of Worldwide) is significantly lower than their US Pretax Income Mix:
...................................US................................US
.................................Current..........................Tax
...................................Fed.............................Paid
...................................Inc............US...............vs
...................................Tax............PTI..........Income
...................................Mix...........Mix..........Spread
Honeywell................(604)%........44%..........(648)%
Ebay.........................(336)%........40%..........(376)%
Dow Chemical...........(305)%.......(29)%.........(275)%
State Street Corp.......(121)%........36%...........(157)%
Duke Energy.................(4)%........78%............(82)%
FedEx..........................29%.........79%............(51)%
Loews..........................39%.........77%............(38)%
Mastercard.................56%..........80%............(24)%
Halliburton.................58%.........72%............(14)%
Viacom.......................70%.........82%............(12)%
Kimberly Clark............52%.........63%............(11)%
And below here are the 23 fourth largest US Corps, with at least some international presence, which disclosed financial information needed for me to compute both the US Pretax Income Mix as well as the US Revenue Mix.
....................................................................US
.................................................................Income
......................................US...........US...........vs
.....................................PTI...........Rev.........Rev
.....................................Mix..........Mix.......Spread
Dow Chemical...........(29)%.......33%.......(62)%
Southern Copper........0%..........25%.......(25)%
State Street Corp.......36%..........58%.......(23)%
Accenture..................18%..........36%.......(18)%
Honeywell.................44%.........59%.......(15)%
Duke Energy..............78%.........92%.......(13)%
Franklin Resources..56%.........67%.......(11)%
Costco..........................69%..........76%.........(7)%
Ebay............................40%..........46%.........(6)%
Nike.............................38%..........43%.........(5)%
Natl Oilwell Varco........30%..........34%.........(3)%
EMC.............................54%..........54%...........0%
Emerson Electric.........45%..........43%............2%
Best Buy......................78%..........74%............4%
TJX.............................84%..........77%............6%
General Mills...............88%..........81%............8%
Alcon..........................52%..........43%............9%
FedEx..........................79%..........70%...........9%
Kimberly Clark............63%..........53%..........10%
Viacom.......................82%..........72%..........10%
Illinois Tool Works......56%..........42%..........14%
Halliburton.................72%..........46%..........27%
Mastercard.................80%..........42%..........38%
And below here are the 20 fourth largest US Corps, with at least some international presence, which disclosed financial information needed for me to compute both the US Pretax Income Mix as well as the US Asset Mix.
....................................................................US
.................................................................Income
......................................US...........US...........vs
.....................................PTI.........Asset.......Asset
.....................................Mix.........Mix........Spread
Dow Chemical..........(29)%......48%........(77)%
Ebay...........................40%........89%........(48)%
State Street Corp.......36%........71%........(35)%
Honeywell.................44%........75%........(31)%
Natl Oilwell Varco....30%........57%........(26)%
Nike............................38%........61%........(23)%
Franklin Resources.56%........76%........(19)%
Duke Energy.............78%........94%........(16)%
Accenture.................18%........30%........(12)%
FedEx........................79%........90%........(11)%
Emerson Electric....45%........56%........(11)%
Viacom........................82%.........91%..........(9)%
Costco.........................69%.........77%..........(8)%
Alcon..........................52%.........53%..........(1)%
General Mills...............88%.........82%...........6%
Best Buy......................78%.........72%...........7%
Illinois Tool Works......56%.........49%...........7%
Kimberly Clark............63%.........51%..........12%
Halliburton.................72%.........59%..........14%
TJX.............................84%.........69%..........14%
From a quick review of the above two charts, there were five corps that had fairly positive patriotic ratings: Kimberly Clark, Halliburton, Illinois Tool Works, General Mills, and Mastercard.
However, there were many more (9) corps with even much higher negative patriotic ratings: Dow Chemical, State Street Corp, Honeywell, Accenture, Southern Copper, Franklin Resources, Duke Energy, National Oilwell Varco, and Nike.
When I get some time, I will research similar information related to the many Big US Corps with Worldwide Pretax Income ranging from $1 bil to $2 bil in the most recent year. It should be interesting.
===========================================
When I consolidate all 138 of the Big US Corps with Pretax Income above $2 bil in the most recent year, here's what I get:
US Federal Income Tax Paid........$79,955 mil
Consolidated Pretax Income.....$905,898 mil
Effective Tax Rate...............................8.8%
At the end of the Clinton Presidency in 2000, the US was clearly a Democracy.
But history will show that the US is now in essence operating as a Power-Obsessed Plutocracy/Aristocracy, where the giant US Corps are the ruling Plutocrats/Aristocrats, and the Republicans in the US Congress are the Enabling Serfs.
As you can see from the above extremely modest 8.8% US Federal Income Tax Rate Paid, the Plutocrats/Aristocrats have clearly won out on the taxpaying front.
And the Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats have clearly turned much of the many non-Aristocrats into US peasants.....and many of them are college-educated peasants.
The Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats publicly say they are for US job creation, but they have widely caused high US unemployment with their massive shipping of US jobs overseas.
Most of the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats love the current horrible US unemployment, US underemployment, and US low median wage situation. It permits them to pay paltry wages, give modest pay increases, and easily find replacement employees on the cheap. It also results in extremely hard-working, loyal employees, who are absolutely scared to death of losing their widely-coveted jobs.
Also, the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats even now have majority control of the US Supreme Court. The Citizens United Decision was just huge in aiding the dominance of the Big Corp Plutocracy/Aristocracy.
The Bush/Cheney Presidency and the US Congress has turned the country into a Power-Obsessed Plutocracy.
The Obama Administration is attempting to turn the country back from a Power-Obsessed Plutocracy to a Democracy, but has gotten intense resistance from every front, and thus it still has a very long way to go. The only way this is going to get done is with much help from the people hitting the Streets.
Clearly the Republican-controlled US House, but also the Republicans in the US Senate with their filibuster power, and even aided by a handful of Democrats, have been able to prevent the Obama Administration from turning the country back from a Power-Obsessed Plutocracy to a Democracy.
And to perpetuate this Big Corp Plutocracy/Aristocracy, there is nothing that the ruling class desires more than to have as the next US President, a true Power-Obsessed Plutocrat/Aristocrat in his own right, Mitt Romney.
When you look at Webster's definition of either a Plutocrat or an Aristocrat, they both fit Romney to a tea. And Romney has even publicly and proudly proclaimed that Big Corps are "people".
But what the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats have overlooked in their intense myopic focus on greed is that Aristocracies and Plutocracies have always ended up turning ugly for the power obsessed.
The start here you are now seeing in the Streets of Manhattan.
If the Power-Obsessed Plutocracy/Aristocracy get their wish in the Supercommitee Negotiations, I am afraid it is going to get really ugly for the Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats, of course in a nonviolent kind of way. There will be a massive movement unlike the Plutocrats/Aristocrats have ever seen before.
Here's what the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats want.....a dramatic reduction in the US Corporate Federal Income Tax Rate from 35% to something like 25%. They know that such an approach is unfair to all other businesses, as well as to all US individuals, but they don't care.....they are the ruling Plutocracy/Aristocracy.
And even after shipping all of these US jobs overseas and paying such a meager income tax rate on the related foreign earnings in the foreign tax haven, these Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats are now demanding that they be allowed to repatriate all (nearly $2 trillion at the end of 2011) of their low-taxed foreign earnings back to the US in a tax holiday. That's egregiously piling on, in addition to pouring salt on the wounds of all of the former US employees and US supplier employees laid off by the US Corps moving their jobs overseas.
All 6 Republicans on the Supercommittee are Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocratic/Aristocratic facilitators.
House Speaker John "Procter & Gamble" Boehner picked the 3 Republican House members.
The Republican head, Texan Jeb Hensarling, is controlled by Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil.....and the two Michigan House Republican Supercommittee members, Dave "Dow Chemical" Camp and Fred "Whirlpool, the Outsourcer" Upton, are both owned by Big Corps.
Mitch "Humana" McConnell picked the 3 Republican Senators on the Supercommittee, who are also all in tune with the Big Corp Aristocratic tax strategy, and are led by Jon "Business Roundtable" Kyl.
All 6 Republicans on the Supercommittee say they are for small business, but their actions have always shown their allegiance to the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocracy/Aristocracy, rather than to small businesses, which drive US job creation.
And there is a Democrat on the Supercommittee who played a key role in facilitating the turn of the US from a Democracy to a Plutocracy/ Aristocracy, with his US Tax Policy during the 2000s.....Max Baucus, the head of the US Senate Finance Committee.
And right out of the gate, Baucus has been quick to emphasize how complex Tax Reform is, and thus how difficult it would be to enact.....clearly a strategy to keep the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocracy/Aristocracy favored status quo on US Tax Policy. Frankly, I don't think it would be that difficult to enact wise, fair, truly job-creating Tax Reform.
Baucus also was only one of just a couple of Democratic Senators who voted last year against wise job-creating tax legislation which would have served as a clear deterrent to prevent companies from shipping US jobs overseas.
So right now we have 7 votes for Plutocratic/Aristocratic-favored Tax Reform. But I like it that of the 12, we have two on the other side (John Kerry and Chris Van Hollen) who stand out as being extremely bright, great negotiators, true patriots, and are clearly a cut above all of these 7 on the other side.
You can still win this Big Game even though you start out as a smaller team if two of your players on your side are Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, both playing in their prime. And then it really helps when the smaller team also has the fans on their side.....in this case, all the people hitting the Streets.
It is so obvious what is needed to make a major dent in the horrible US joblessness problem.
You kill all of the corporate tax loopholes, except for the one that clearly is a very effective job creator, the R&D tax credit.
Then you dramatically reduce federal income tax rates on all business income, of both C Corps and of all business pass thru entities.
And you put massive tax rate reductions on lower amounts of business income. After all, this is what drives US job creation.
All businesses, large and small, will fairly get the tax benefits on these lower amounts of business income. But the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats want it all.
To maximize US job creation, and also make a nice dent in the US Debt level, I think a tax rate scheme on all business income, something like the below, makes sense.
............................................................Regular
Taxable Income Range.................Business Tax Rate
.....first $100,000.................................10%
.....$100,000 to $500,000...................14%
.....$500,000 to $1 mil.........................18%
.....$1 mil to $10 mil..............................22%
.....$10 mil to $100 mil.........................26%
.....$100 mil to $1 bil............................30%
.....above $1 bil.....................................34%
And to really make economic growth and job creation explosive, what should be done is putting in some huge front end tax acceleration deductions in the year just before the above lower US Federal Income Tax Rates take effect. A really fine initiative here would be extremely accelerated tax depreciation on all new buildings and on all existing building improvements, and not just manufacturing buildings.
What makes this explosive stimulus is not just the new construction jobs added from the building investment, but that businesses making the building investment get to front end the tax deduction on the building improvement at a 35% tax rate, but yet get the future earnings stream from this building investment income taxed at the much lower federal income tax rates prevailing after Tax Reform is enacted.
However, in addition to permanently lowering the US Federal Income Tax Rates on all US business income, it is critical that this be accompanied by a very healthy US corporate federal minimum income tax, with progressive minimum tax rates applied as worldwide pretax income of each Big Business rises.
In all fairness, there should be an annual level of worldwide pretax income that the minimum tax would not apply to, such as the first $100 mil earned in each year by each US business.
Then I would enact a very progressive annual minimum tax rate scheme, like that shown below here, on the GAAP Worldwide Pretax Earnings of all US businesses, which are unpatriotically and clearly overdosing in shifting income and the related US jobs overseas.
.....................................................Minimum
Worldwide Pretax Income.......Business Tax Rate
1st $100 mil.....................................0%
$100 mil to $1 bil.............................5%
$1 bil to $5 bil................................10%
$5 bil to $10 bil..............................15%
$10 bil to $20 bil...........................20%
Over $20 bil...................................25%
Thus, a Big US Multinational Corp would pay an additional US Federal Income Tax only if the tax computed under the above minimum tax scheme exceeds the regularly computed tax.
But the Big Corp Power-Obsessed Plutocrats/Aristocrats will fight this tooth and nail, even though it will make a major dent in the US unemployment and US underemployment problem.
I'm betting that the US small businesses will be on the side of the non-Plutocrats/Aristocrats here. And so will the purely domestic US businesses.
