Which is still ridiculously well below the stated 35% corporate tax rate in the USA (source--IRS http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1120.pdf)
I did a little searching, and http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/27/us-microsoft-tax-i... says that in their last fiscal years,
- Microsoft had an overall effective worldwide tax rate of 17.5%.
- Google's effective tax rate was 21%.
- Apple's effective tax rate was 24%.
- IBM's effective tax rate was 25%.
Then with a bit more digging into (independent Senator from Vermont) Bernie Sanders' twitter feed, I saw:
- General Electric had an effective tax rate of -45.3% from 2008 to 2010: https://twitter.com/#!/SenatorSanders/status/132791467994386...
- ExxonMobil had an effective tax rate of -38.3% in 2009: https://twitter.com/#!/SenatorSanders/status/132835853536989...
- Merck had an effective tax rate of -1% in 2009: https://twitter.com/#!/SenatorSanders/status/132927696131985...
- Boeing had an effective tax rate of -1.8% in 2008-2010: https://twitter.com/#!/SenatorSanders/status/132973012763938...
- Verizon had an effective tax rate of -5.4% in 2009 and 2010: https://twitter.com/#!/SenatorSanders/status/132944059814785...
Again, I'm just speaking for myself personally, not on behalf of my employer. My issue with the article was that I felt like it focused on Google when a broader perspective on corporate tax rates would have been more helpful.
I agree with Matt that the focus on Google is unfair, but the use of these one off statistics without an in depth review of the companies named above for the last 10 years is also unfair (Yes it takes a review of the past 10 years to establish a proper understanding of a company's tax position).
But, I will qualify that GE has an amazing tax team and the oil and gas industries are a beastly at lobbying.
You are like an in the closet politician that is against gay marriage.
Also keep in mind that 35% corporate tax rate is also almost pure fiction too -- standard exemptions, let alone loopholes, are among the best in the world.