A blog briefly appeared here today which incorrectly reported Chevron’s 2010 federal income taxes to be $13,000.
The blog was based on an ERROR in Chevron’s 10K SEC report.
While numerous studies have clearly documented for years that the majority of U.S. corporations pay NO income taxes (see this often-cited GAO study from 2008 reported here in the New York
Times, “Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/business/13tax.html), Chevron’s SEC report does not document this.
The error appears on Page 97 of the pdf of Chevron’s 10K, Note 15, a table which FAILS to include a key notation indicating that the numbers are in millions. However, earlier the report does indicate that the numbers are in millions and therefore Chevron reported paying nearly $13 billion in 2010 federal income taxes.
Because I am very familiar with the findings that the majority of U.S. corporations pay no income taxes, the error in the report did not raise a red flag.
My apologies for reporting the incorrect information as fact.