Tech giants are paying a lot less tax than some of the biggest companies in the US
The US corporate tax rate is about 35%, but most of the American tech giants are paying much less than that in taxes.
According to an analysis by financial research website WalletHub, charted for us by Statista, the effective tax rate paid by US tech companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, was well below the 28.6% average rate paid by the 100 biggest S&P companies. Facebook was the exception with an effective tax rate of 41%, but the social networking company has paid a higher rate in past years and recouped some of the money in tax deductions, according to Quartz.
One way these tech giants are lowering their tax bills is by stashing most of their profits overseas, where lower international tax rates apply. Apple, for example, keeps most of its cash offshore, and openly says it's keeping it overseas to avoid the high US corporate tax bills.
