OK, they may not be paying at the absolute highest rate, 50%, on all their income. But they are paying from 40% to 47% of their total income as income taxes. Isn't that close enough?
You do know how to read a 10Q, don't you? Here's some from Exxon and Chevron, the two largest US oil compaines:
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Chevron made 7.65Bil in income and paid $3.07 of it in income tax.
Exxon made $12.76bil and paid $4.96 in income tax.
And that is just income tax and does not include all the other taxes levied on their products, eg fed excise tax, etc. Isn't that enough for you? Or do you want to be Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro and take it all? Ever take an economics course? Then you should know that in the end, it's not Exxon, or it's shareholders that pay this tax. It's the consumers of their products, because just like wages or the cost of a drilling rig, the cost of taxes just gets added on to the cost of their products like any other cost of doing business.
But the biggest single variable is government policy: Some countries tax gasoline heavily; others subsidize it to make it cheap. Many countries chose the former. In the United States, state and local taxes account for about 19 percent of the average price of a gallon of gasoline, according to the Energy Information Administration. In England, where London drivers are paying nearly $9 a gallon, taxes account for a whopping 81.5 percent of the pump price. European countries have long relied on hefty fuel levies to fund road work and social programs, and to encourage conservation. The same is true for some Asian nations, including South Korea ($7.33 a gallon) and Japan ($6.30) - both of which import 100 percent of their crude.
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usually don't like wikipedia, but this is a good source since it points to myriad of others saying the same thing.
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Some samples: Full tax rate is near 55% of motor fuel prices in Russia. Dutch taxes one of the highest in the world. In total, taxes account for 68,84% of the total price of petrol and 56,55% of the total price of diesel. In contrast, For the first quarter of 2009, the mean state gasoline tax is 27.2 cents per US gallon, plus 18.4 cents per US gallon federal tax making the total 45.6 cents per US gallon (12.0 ?/L). For diesel, the mean state tax is 26.6 cents per US gallon plus an additional 24.4 cents per US gallon federal tax making the total 50.8 cents US per gallon (13.4 ?/L). There are obviously some differences related to transportation, etc., most the overwhelming majority of the differences in the US and other countries is the taxes. Also, I would point out that many countries (including China and some oil producing countries) subsidize the costs of fuel to keep the locals happy. This further confuses the country-to-country comparisons. in short, the biggest reason for differences is governmental policies on taxation.
It's well known that the combination mini-mart and gas station (We call 'em "Stop-N-Robs") makes a higher percentage profit on Beef Jerky than it does on fuel.
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