Poor oil companies were charged extraordinary taxes in 2009?

Why do we have high oil prices? Because the American government is taxing these oil companies to deat... Wait a second, turns out Exxon didn't pay any U.S. tax last year!

So what gives? I thought the energy companies were complaining about high taxes?

From Forbes:

"Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas."

From Motherjones:

"The most hilarious part is ExxonMobil still finds a way to bitch about its lot in life. The corporation's website includes an issues page on "industry taxes," which threatens that energy innovation is already on the ropes because of excessive taxes, and it will be forever consigned to the dustbin by any new taxes on windfall profits (or, we'd assume, plans like President Obama's to close the offshore earnings loopholes that saved ExxonMobil from the IRS this year). "While our worldwide profits have grown, our worldwide income taxes have grown even more. From 2004 to 2008 our earnings grew by 79 percent, but our income taxes grew by 130 percent," ExxonMobil's flacks wrote, presumably while playing the world's smallest—and most expensive—violin."

And if they couldn't look any worse, they released a statement trying to defend their no tax policy:

"Though Exxon's financial statement's don't show any net income tax liability owed to Uncle Sam, a company spokesman insists that once its final tax bill is figured, Exxon will owe a 'substantial 2009 tax liability.' How substantial? 'That's not something we're required to disclose, nor do we.'"



Are people still really trying to push the idea that American corporations are crushed by high tax rates? Really? I'm really not the only one who thinks we need to put the reigns back around corporate lobbying power, give someone a bullhorn big enough and they'll drown out reason and have people believe anything.

Here's Exxons page on taxes it's forced to pay, and below there's some fuzzy math to convince people that Exxon is under attack from a tyrannical government bent on taking it's profits.



Here are their talking points:

-In 2008 ExxonMobil's worldwide tax expenses amounted to over $120 billion, equating to nearly $4,000 per second, and significantly more than twice our earnings in the same period.

-ExxonMobil's worldwide effective income tax rate for 2008 was 46 percent. For the first three quarters of 2009 our worldwide income tax rate increased to over 48 percent and our total tax obligations exceeded $59 billion.

-While our worldwide profits have grown, our worldwide income taxes have grown even more. From 2004 to 2008 our earnings grew by 79 percent, but our income taxes grew by 130 percent.

-Additional taxes would raise prices and reduce supplies.

-In the past, windfall profit taxes have undermined capital investments in the oil and gas industry and reduced domestic energy supplies. "Backdoor" windfall profit taxes would be no less damaging. Imposing punitive taxes on American energy companies, which already pay record taxes, would discourage the sustained investments needed to safeguard U.S. energy security.

-According to a report of the Congressional Research Service, the windfall profit tax of the 1980s reduced domestic oil production as much as 6 percent, and increased imports as much as 16 percent.

-Industry projects span decades, require massive investments, and utilize cutting-edge technologies that evolve throughout project lifecycles. Under these circumstances, long-term planning — which relies on stable legal, fiscal and regulatory frameworks — is critical.

Awww... poor oil companies. This reminds me of 8 year old who breaks a window and is inventing the most elaborate explanation of how they saw it happen, but it wasn't their fault so therefore they shouldn't have their allowance taken to pay for it.

Remember back in '08 when they were making insane amounts of profit?

Seriously people 1+1 still equals 2. These companies have gotten away with murder for far too long, it's time they paid their fair share. Let's regulate that industry and cut down on the egregious excess and influence they hold over our country economically and politically. We sure didn't invade Iraq with a pro-oil president over WMD's.