An Accountable.US review has found that five of these tax-dodging corporations had an average effective tax rate of -11.6% and together owed -$636 million in federal income tax in 2020—meanwhile in 2019, the average taxpayer owed $10,649 in taxes for an average tax rate of 13.3%. Then in 2021, these same companies started raising costs on American consumers as they saw net incomes jump to at least $14.5 billion and spent over $27.6 billion on shareholder handouts in 2021, according to their most recent financial reports:
• FedEx
o 2020: Paid. -$230 million in tax despite nearly $1.22 billion in profit
o “Secured secret deals” with Luxembourg, a “‘magical fairyland'” for tax avoidance
o “Lobbied hard” for the 2017 Trump tax cuts, but did not increase investment in the year following the cuts
o 2021: Announced rate hikes and new surcharges on a number of deliveries
o Reported nearly$3.27 billion in net income in the first nine months of its FY2022 and over $2.8billion in shareholder handouts over the same period
• Nike
o 2020: Paid -$109 million in tax despite $2.87 billion in profit
o “Avoided paying $4 billion in U.S.Taxes “through schemes revealed in the Paradise Papers
o Touted the”strategic and financial” benefits of “full price realization” as it raised prices
o Reported an additional $389 million in net income in the first nine months of its FY2022, as it spent nearly $4.28 billion on shareholder handouts
• Duke Energy
o 2020: Paid -$281 million in tax despite $826 million in profit
o Touted positive results in its FY2021 from increased rates after working to increase its energy rates in multiple states
o Enjoyed a 230% increase in FY2021 net income and projected over$3 billion in shareholder dividends in 2022
• Charter Communications, Inc.
o 2020: Paid-$7million in tax despite $3.68 billion in profit
o Has repeatedly raised rates on consumers
o Saw FY2021 net income soar by $1.4billion to over $4.6 billion while it boosted stock buybacks by $4.2 billion to over $15.4 billion
• PPL Corporation
o 2020: Paid -$9 million in tax despite $878 million in profito Planned to raise electricity rates by 26% for residential customers and 36.4% for commercial ones in late 2021
o Spent nearly $1.3 billion on shareholder handouts in its FY2021 and was poised to spend $5.3 billion on a major acquisition in early 2022
ValueEdge Advisors 