In my opinion the American economy is driven by pertoleum. Exxon-Mobil is in the petroleum business. Our vehicles, cars, trucks, tractors, lawn mowers, RTV's weed trimmers, etc. take gas and diesel for fuel and oil for lubrication. The majority of our food is transported by fuel use vehicles. We travel one person per vehicle for many miles to our place of employment. We lack mass transportaion in all but a few large cities. The list goes on and on. In all fairness to Big-Oil they make large amounts of money but they also pay out large amounts. This cycle will continue until we as consumers push for a better way.
Some interesting information on Exxon-Mobil's Federal Taxes.
The reported income figures of $40.6 billion and $39.5 billion for Exxon-Mobil are after-tax profits. For 2006, before tax) was $67.4 billion, it paid $27.9 billion in taxes (41.4% tax rate), and its NIAT (net income after tax), or profit, was $39.5 billion.]
Over the last three years, Exxon Mobil has paid an average of $27 billion annually in taxes. (In all likelihood the taxes paid were passed on to consumers of Exxon-Mobil products) That's $27,000,000,000 per year, a number so large it's hard to comprehend. Here's one way to put reportedly paid Exxon's taxes into perspective.
According to IRS data for 2004, the most recent year available:
Total number of tax returns: 130 million
Number of Tax Returns for the Bottom 50%: 65 million
Adjusted Gross Income for the Bottom 50%: $922 billion
Total Income Tax Paid by the Bottom 50%: $27.4 billion
Exxon-Mobil’s income is so great it is in the 41% tax bracket
Conclusion: In other words, just one corporation (Exxon Mobil) pays as much in taxes ($27 billion) annually as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people! Further, the tax rate for the bottom 50% is only 3% of adjusted gross income ($27.4 billion Taxes paid / $922 billion taxable Income), Exxon Mobil 67.4 billion in taxable income, $27.9 billion in taxes).
