Comic · Independently Published

Memo on Big Oil and the Taxes They (Don't) Pay

Bindner Analytics & The Center for Fiscal Equity

Why should we bother with an analysis of Big Oil and the taxes they pay (or don't pay)? Is there any hope in changing the status quo, or is the TINA correct, that there is no other way? If we don't examine the question, we will never know. Robert Reich posted the now familiar figures on May 5, 2019 about how much Exxon Mobil and other oil companies pay (or rather do not pay) in corporate income taxes. What he writes is absolutely true from a cash basis because current year taxes are reduced by past accrued losses. This actually is reasonable from an accounting view point. Companies operate on an accrual basis, so tax payment should match their accounting system. It seems TINA is correct, or is it. It depends upon your point of view. We are never going to force Big Oil or Big Business to abandon an accounting system that works for us as well. Economists, particularly Marxians, look at additional perspectives. When we do so, we can explore how things really work (what the powers that be do not want you to know) and how things can be done differently (what they really, really, really don't want you to know). There is a better way after all (TIBWA). Oil companies are both a government agency that provides oil and a massive cooperative which also employs teachers, clergy, farmers, food processors, builders, bankers, etc. Either viewpoint is a social or socialistic accounting of their activities. Both viewpoints reflect decisions made in both the public sector and by management. The value in this analysis is to lay bare these decisions and explore options.