Baton Rouge Business Report: Corporate profits often escape state income taxe
media mentionMany large U.S. corporations paid little or no state income taxes from 2008 to 2010, according to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Budget Project says two Louisiana-headquartered multistate firms are included in the report: New Orleans-based Entergy, which paid state income taxes equal to 1% of its $5.6 billion in reported profits during the three-year period; and Monroe-based CenturyLink, which paid taxes on 1.8% of its $2.9 billion in total profits over the same time period. Louisiana’s corporate tax rate ranges from 4% to 8%, depending on profits. The LBP says combined reporting would close tax loopholes and help level the playing field between large, multistate corporations and in-state businesses. The report looked at 265 Fortune 500 companies that reported profits each of the last three years and whose public filings provided enough information to calculate their domestic profit and the amount paid in state income taxes. It found that some corporations paid state taxes on 3% of their corporate profits, compared to average state tax rates of 6.2%. It’s impossible to determine how much companies paid in specific states, as companies don’t disclose profits and taxes paid on a state-by-state basis, the LBP says. See the full 32-page report here.