US Tax burden lowest for 60 years

The U.S. tax burden has shrunk to its lowest level in 60 years, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.

Including state, federal and local taxes, the average tax bill came out to 9.2 percent of personal income in 2009, USA Today reported Tuesday.

That's down from an average of 12 percent over the past 50 years. The tax burden has not been this low since 1950, the newspaper said.

"The idea that taxes are high right now is pretty much nuts," said Michael Ettlinger, head of economic policy at the Center for American Progress.

The tax rate has fallen 26 percent since 2007, a sharp drop that reflects progressive tax rates passed during the Clinton and Bush administrations and the 2009 federal stimulus bill that cut taxes by $800 for married couples earning up to $150,000.

SOURCE

UNTAXED FOREIGN PROFIT

GE - $94 Billion
Pfizer - $48.2 Billion
Merck - $40.4 Billion
Johnson & Johnson - $37 Billion
Exxon Mobil - $35 Billion
Citigroup - $32.1 Billion
Cisco Systems - $ 31.6 Billion
IBM - $31.1 Billion
Proctor & Gamble - $30 Billion
Microsoft - $29.5 Billion

SOURCE

Many U.S. multinational corporations keep some profits abroad, none more than GE: Its total was $94 billion at the end of last year. As long as corporations tell their accountants they intend to indefinitely invest those profits outside the U.S., they don't have to make a provision for federal and state taxes on them. If the profits stay abroad, they remain untaxed.