industry taxes

ExxonMobil U.S. Income and Taxes 2003-2007click chart to enlarge

ExxonMobil's U.S. tax burden is already very large.

  • From 2003 to 2007, our U.S. tax bill ($64.7 billion), including all forms of taxation, exceeded our U.S. earnings ($46.0 billion) by almost $19 billion.
  • ExxonMobil's worldwide effective income tax rate for 2007 was 44 percent, and has risen even higher in 2008. A recent survey by Tax Notes of 80 leading U.S. companies revealed that these companies had an average income tax rate of 30 percent. According to the EIA, the oil industry's 2006 income tax expenses averaged 40.7 percent, compared to 22.1 percent for U.S. manufacturing companies.
  • In 2007, ExxonMobil's worldwide tax expenses amounted to over $105 billion. In the first half of 2008, ExxonMobil's worldwide tax expenses were over $61 billion, equating to nearly $4,000 per second, and is equivalent to nearly three times our earnings.
  • While our worldwide profits have grown, our worldwide income taxes have grown even more. From 2003 to 2007, our earnings grew by 89 percent, but our income taxes grew by 170 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 1990 Report of the Congressional Research Service, the windfall profit tax of the 1980’s reduced domestic oil production as much as six 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.