91 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal income taxes on their U.S. income last year, according to a report released Monday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Why it matters: Some of the companies that paid no federal income tax last year still made billions of dollars — and they include some of the country's biggest names, like Amazon, Chevron, Halliburton and IBM.

The big picture: The 379 profitable members of the Fortune 500 paid an effective federal tax rate of 11.3% last year — almost half of the 21% corporate rate established under President Trump's 2017 tax revamp.

*That effective rate was the lowest since the organization began publishing its corporate tax studies in 1984.

*Large companies were able to pay lower rates through a combination of deductions, tax breaks and other loopholes.

*Had those companies paid the statutory 21% rate on their profits, they would have collectively owed the federal government an additional $73.9 billion.

The state of play: Despite strong economic growth, the federal deficit is soaring. In the first 11 months of fiscal year 2019, it exceeded $1 trillion and has already hit $342 billion for the first two months of 2020's fiscal year.

The lower corporate tax rate isn't the sole driver of the deficit, but it certainly contributes. Corporate tax revenue dropped from about $297 billion in 2017 to $204 billion in 2018.

Go deeper: Tax cuts could be a curse for U.S. companies

Source: axios.com

Date Posted: Monday, December 16th, 2019 , Total Page Views: 4591