Oil industry tax obligation

Exxon Mobil posts a record $45.2 billion profit! Similarly, news organizations across the nation breathlessly report another record profit for big oil!

However, the usual shock and dismay that accompanies release of the "unconscionable profits" - the company often seems to be portrayed as "extorting" from hapless American consumers - was a little more subdued than previous years (when, for example, The New York Times was reporting how much profit Exxon was making "for every second of 2007").

This year, while the media could still gleefully report the "staggering profits," it was compelled to note that fourth-quarter results were down dramatically, that the industry is experiencing spending and job cuts, and that apparently "no one is completely insulated from the ongoing malaise," as The Associated Press noted.

In fact, no calls for a "windfall profits tax" have yet emanated from the Obama administration, although our new president often threatened such during his campaign.

Even Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has refrained from expressing her desire to nationalize the oil industry if the companies don't stop making so much money.

There is one aspect of this story, however, that Americans almost never hear, especially if they rely only on the "popular" media for their information. Exxon announced its fourth-quarter and 2008 financial results in a 14-page press release. In addition to the report of record profits for the past year, the press release also noted, in its income statement, that the company paid taxes on its income in 2008. In fact, unlike Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer, Exxon reported and paid its full legal tax liability on time and without prodding from an IRS audit!

Had the AP or MSNBC or all the other crack news organizations attempted to report a complete story, they would have reported that, besides earning net income of $45.2 billion in 2008, the company paid $116.2 billion in total taxes!

In income and sales-based taxes alone, governments received more than $71 billion from Exxon last year! That sounds to me like "windfall tax receipts for governments," don't you think, Congresswoman Waters?

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