Fortune 500 Companies That Haven’t Paid Federal Taxes Recently
Corporate taxation has always been something of a controversial topic. While many feel that corporations should pay higher taxes, companies have both a duty to generate profits for their shareholders and a legal right to reduce their tax burdens to the full extent of the law. Still, it can be startling to discover that many of the most famous companies in America not only haven’t paid taxes in recent years but have actually received multimillion-dollar refunds.
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To determine the extent to which there are companies that haven’t paid taxes recently, GOBankingRates used the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s piece “Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law” to identify 84 Fortune 500 companies that didn’t pay income tax in 2018, which is the year with the most recent data available.
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What stands out most about the data is not that there are 84 Fortune 500 companies that paid no tax, but that 82 of them actually received sizable refunds. Of course, as with all data and statistics, these numbers must be taken in context. Receiving a refund of $100 million or more doesn’t mean that a company has skirted tax laws. In many cases, big refunds are the result of large business losses or the receipt of tax credits for various qualifying business activities. Nevertheless, some of the numbers are eye-opening, so take a closer look at 20 of the biggest names on the list and see the rest at the end.
Last updated: Jan. 25, 2021
Alaska Air Group
Taxes Paid: -$5 million
Tax Rate: -0.9%
Profit: $576 million
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Ally Financial
Taxes Paid: -$12 million
Tax Rate: -0.8%
Profit: $1.587 billion
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MGM Resorts International
Taxes Paid: -$12 million
Tax Rate: -1.8%
Profit: $648 million
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Netflix
Taxes Paid: -$22 million
Tax Rate: -2.5%
Profit: $899 million
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Goodyear Rubber & Tire
Taxes Paid: -$23 million
Tax Rate: -5.2%
Profit: $440 million
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Molson Coors
Taxes Paid: -$23 million
Tax Rate: -1.7%
Profit: $1.325 billion
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Occidental Petroleum
Taxes Paid: -$23 million
Tax Rate: -0.7%
Profit: $3.379 billion
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Levi Strauss
Taxes Paid: -$25 million
Tax Rate: -17.3%
Profit: $145 million
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Nvidia
Taxes Paid: -$32 million
Tax Rate: -1.7%
Profit: $1.843 billion
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Avis Budget Group
Taxes Paid: -$37 million
Tax Rate: -47.4%
Profit: $78 million
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JetBlue Airways
Taxes Paid: -$60 million
Tax Rate:-27.4%
Profit: $219 million
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Starbucks
Taxes Paid: -$75 million
Tax Rate: -1.6%
Profit: $4.774 billion
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General Motors
Taxes Paid: -$104 million
Tax Rate: -2.4%
Profit: $4.32 billion
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FedEx
Taxes Paid: -$107 million
Tax Rate: –4.6%
Profit: $2.312 billion
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Amazon.com
Taxes Paid: -$129 million
Tax Rate: -1.2%
Profit: $10.835 billion
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Chevron
Taxes Paid: -$181 million
Tax Rate: -4%
Profit: $4.547 billion
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Delta Air Lines
Taxes Paid: -$187 million
Tax Rate: -3.7%
Profit: $5.073 billion
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Activision Blizzard
Taxes Paid: -$243 million
Tax Rate: -54.5%
Profit: $447 million
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Deere
Taxes Paid: -$558 million
Tax Rate: -25.9%
Profit: $2.152 billion
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Duke Energy
Taxes Paid: -$647 million
Tax Rate: -21.4%
Profit: $3.029 billion
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The Rest of the List
Sanmina-SCI: Taxes Paid: $0
ABM Industries: Taxes Paid: $0
Andersons: Taxes Paid: -$1 million
AK Steel Holding: Taxes Paid: -$1 million
Cliffs Natural Resources: Taxes Paid: -$1 million
SpartanNash: Taxes Paid: -$2 million
Builders FirstSource: Taxes Paid: -$2 million
UGI: Taxes Paid: -$3 million
Beacon Roofing Supply: Taxes Paid: -$4 million
SPX: Taxes Paid: -$4 million
Westrock: Taxes Paid: -$4 million
Owens Corning: Taxes Paid: -$5 million
Tenet Healthcare: Taxes Paid: -$6 million
Mohawk Industries: Taxes Paid: -$6 million
DXC Technology: Taxes Paid: -$6 million
Darden Restaurants: Taxes Paid: -$7 million
INTL FCStone: Taxes Paid: -$10 million
Murphy Oil: Taxes Paid: -$10 million
Atmos Energy: Taxes Paid: -$10 million
Ameren: Taxes Paid: -$10 million
McKesson: Taxes Paid: -$10 million
Gannett: Taxes Paid: -$11 million
Realogy: Taxes Paid: -$13 million
Penske Automotive Group: Taxes Paid: -$13 million
Devon Energy: Taxes Paid: -$14 million
MDU Resources: Taxes Paid: -$16 million
FirstEnergy: Taxes Paid: -$16 million
Air Products & Chemicals: Taxes Paid: -$17 million
DTE Energy: Taxes Paid: -$17 million
Hartford Financial Services: Taxes Paid: -$18 million
Trinity Industries: Taxes Paid: -$19 million
Halliburton: Taxes Paid: -$19 million
PPL: Taxes Paid: -$19 million
Kinder Morgan: Taxes Paid: -$22 million
Tapestry: Taxes Paid: $-24 million
Pitney Bowes: Taxes Paid: -$26 million
Phillips-Van Heusen: Taxes Paid: -$31 million
American Electric Power: Taxes Paid: -$32 million
Xcel Energy: Taxes Paid: -$34 million
United States Steel: Taxes Paid: -$40 million
Rockwell Collins: Taxes Paid: -$40 million
PulteGroup: Taxes Paid: -$44 million
Dominion Resources: Taxes Paid: -$44 million
Ryder System: Taxes Paid: -$47 million
Aramark: Taxes Paid: -$48 million
Eli Lilly: Taxes Paid: -$54 million
Principal Financial: Taxes Paid: -$55 million
Edison International: Taxes Paid: -$55 million
CMS Energy: Taxes Paid: -$67 million
Honeywell International: Taxes Paid: -$71 million
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold: Taxes Paid: -$75 million
Williams: Taxes Paid: -$83 million
Public Service Enterprise Group: Taxes Paid: -$97 million
Whirlpool: Taxes Paid: -$110 million
DowDuPont: Taxes Paid: -$119 million
First Data: Taxes Paid: -$121 million
Celanese: Taxes Paid: -$142 million
Brighthouse Financial: Taxes Paid: -$166 million
AECOM Technology: Taxes Paid: -$186 million
Prudential Financial: Taxes Paid: -$210 million
WEC Energy Group: Taxes Paid; -$218 million
EOG Resources: Taxes Paid: -$304 million
International Business Machines: Taxes Paid: -$342 million
CenturyLink: Taxes Paid: -$576 million
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Methodology: GOBankingRates used the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s “Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law” to find 84 Fortune 500 companies that paid $0 in income taxes in 2018 (most recent data available). GOBankingRates found (1) 2018 profit; (2) taxes paid in 2018; and (3) tax rate for each company. All data was collected on and up to date as of Jan. 4, 2021.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Fortune 500 Companies That Haven’t Paid Federal Taxes Recently
