Your taxes are due today. Here's something that will make you feel better: You paid nowhere near as much as these poor companies.
There are 10 companies in the S&P 500, including energy company Anadarko Petroleum (APC), data center operator Equinix (EQIX) and online auctioneer eBay (EBAY) that paid effective tax rates of 60% or greater during last calendar year, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. One was much more … try 2,994% as a tax rate. A company's effective tax rate is a way to measure what percent of a company's taxable income goes to the taxman.
The massive tax bills makes your tax bracket look much better, don't they? Investors have been carefully watching corporate tax rates for more than a year – and some companies didn't even pay any taxes last calendar year. Fancy corporate tricks, such as using mergers with foreign entities, have become a way to escape U.S. taxes. There's also a trend for U.S. companies to borrow money in the U.S., so they can avoid U.S. taxes. These company pay dividends to U.S. investors while leaving foreign funds overseas and away from U.S. tax collectors.
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