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Notes on Corporate Taxes
25 Companies with the Largest Total Tax Breaks
vs. Changes in Capital Investment, 2001 to 2003
| Company |
Tax brk millions |
% Change |
| General Electric |
9,481 |
–40% |
| SBC Communications |
9,032 |
–53% |
| Citigroup |
4,626 |
+38% |
| IBM |
4,617 |
–19% |
| Microsoft |
4,599 |
–19% |
| AT&T |
4,572 |
–45% |
| ExxonMobil |
4,268 |
+29% |
| Verizon |
4,234 |
–35% |
| JPMorgan Chase |
3,929 |
NR |
| Pfizer |
3,889 |
+25% |
| Altria (Philip Morris) |
3,341 |
+3% |
| Wachovia |
3,259 |
+120% |
| Boeing |
3,058 |
–65% |
| Bank of America |
2,959 |
–75% |
| Time Warner |
2,637 |
–9% |
| Wells Fargo |
2,459 |
NR |
| ConocoPhillips |
1,985 |
–3% |
| Intel |
1,972 |
–50% |
| Merrill Lynch |
1,966 |
–85% |
| Prudential Financial |
1,838 |
NR |
| Viacom |
1,812 |
+4% |
| United Technologies |
1,750 |
–33% |
| BellSouth |
1,632 |
–47% |
| Allstate |
1,631 |
–9% |
| American Express |
1,541 |
+19% |
| Total these 25 |
87,089 |
–22% |
| Other 250 companies |
88,075 |
–13% |
| All companies |
175,164 |
–15% |
The Failure of Corporate Tax Incentives
Legislation adopted in 2002 and 2003 vastly increased corporate write-offs for
“accelerated depreciation” and made it easier for corporations to use their excess tax subsidies to generate tax-rebate checks from the
U.S. Treasury, at a three-year cost of $175 billion. Backers of those so-called “incentives” said they would encourage new corporate
investments in plant and equipment. But the study finds that they failed to do so:
The 25 companies in the study who reported the largest tax savings from accelerated depreciation — garnering two-thirds of the total
depreciation benefits for all 275 companies over the three years — cut their total property, plant and equipment investments by 27 percent
from 2001 to 2003.
Data from:
Summary:
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