There are 280 corporations on the Fortune 500 list that are a lot more fortunate than the rest. According to a just released study by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy these 280 corporations paid an average effective tax rate in 2009 and 2010 of just 17.3%. The official corporate tax rate is 35%.
Of this group of fortunate corporations, 78 had no federal taxes due in one year from 2008-2010. Then there were the most fortunate 30 of them all that “enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the entire three year period on their combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion.”